We’re wrapping this blog up shortly. Here is our full story on the wildfires in Maui:
Governor Green also tweeted saying, “Heroic efforts by first responders have prevented many casualties from occurring. Our entire emergency response team, including the Hawai’i National Guard has mobilised and is being supported by [the Federal Emergency Management Authority.”
Heroic efforts by first responders have prevented many casualties from occurring. Our entire emergency response team, including the Hawai‘i National Guard has mobilized and is being supported by FEMA.
— Governor Josh Green (@GovJoshGreenMD) August 10, 2023
Hawaii governor Josh Green has addressed Hawaii residents, saying the attention of emergency services and the government is on those who have lost loved ones, homes or been injured.
The White House “will be providing very significant resources for our state when the time for rebuilding comes”, he said.
“For now please be loving and supportive of your neighbours if they have needs, wherever they are in the state.”
We have suffered a terrible disaster in the form of a wildfire that has spread widely across Maui and Hawai’i Counties as a result of very strong winds in the region and underlying drought conditions. pic.twitter.com/38Pasba9Ol
— Governor Josh Green (@GovJoshGreenMD) August 10, 2023
An infraread view of the town of Lahaina shows damage caused by the wildfires:
At least 271 structures damaged in fires, say authorities
Authorities say at least 271 structures have been damaged or destroyed in the Maui wildfires.
Officials say assessing the damage of the Maui fires could take weeks or months. But it is becoming clear that the damage will be extensive, AP reports.
Flyovers of Lahaina by US Civil Air Patrol and the Maui Fire Department showed that more than 271 structures were damaged or destroyed, said Mahina Martin, a spokesperson for Maui County.
Updated
Summary
Here is what we know about the fires burning on Hawaii’s Maui island:
Six people have been killed in the unprecedented wildfires that tore through the Hawaiian island of Maui overnight, authorities said. Two dozen people are injured, and authorities are making preparations for as many as 4,000 people displaced by the fires and thousands of acres had burned
High winds were expected to continue throughout the night, the Maui County Emergency Management Agency said. It published a new wind advisory warning that while wind speeds are slowing, they “remain elevated enough to warrant keeping a wind advisory in effect through tonight”.
Three separate wildfires have been burning on the island of Maui, including one that destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina. Lahaina holds strong cultural significance. It was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom under Kings Kamehameha II and III from 1820 to 1845, and served as a main port for the North Pacific whaling fleet, according to the National Park Service. Historic buildings along Lahaina’s popular Front Street were “charred and flattened skeletons on Wednesday,” the Associated Press reported, with “powerlines draped across roadways”.
Rescuers with the US Coast Guard pulled a dozen people from the ocean water off Lahaina after they dived in to escape smoke and flames.
US president Joe Biden said he had “ordered all available Federal assets on the Islands to help with response.” Biden expressed condolences “to the families of those who lost loved ones in the wildfires in Maui” and said he and his wife Jill Biden’s “prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed.”
Although Maui airport is still operating, an estimated 2,000 travellers were sheltering at Kahului Airport on Maui early Wednesday morning, according to Maui county’s Facebook page.
Hurricane Dora, which passed south of the islands this week, ihas contributed to the severity of the fires by exacerbating a low-pressure system and increasing the difference in air pressure to create “unusually strong trade winds,” said Genki Kino, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Honolulu.
The County of Maui and other local government officials have turned to Facebook and Twitter to warn residents that the 911 system was down on parts of the island, the Associated Press reports, and that they should call police departments directly if needed.
Several burn patients from Maui were being treated at Straub Medical Center in Honolulu, the hospital has said in a statement. The facility has the only specialised burn unit in Hawaii.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green is expected to be back in Hawaii on Wednesday evening, after returning home from a scheduled trip. Green has been in contact with the White House, and is preparing to request emergency federal assistance sometime in the next two days, once he has a better idea of the damage, his office said in a news release. Hundreds of families have been displaced and much of Lahaina on Maui has been destroyed, Green said in the statement.
Officials have released very little information about the scope of damage caused by the wildfires, but satellite images from NASA, seen by the Associated Press, appear to show active flames throughout much of the historic town of Lahaina. Another Maui wildfire was burning near the town of Kihei.
The Maui Humane Society has asked people to foster animals as wildfires destroy houses and land and people displaced may not be able to take their pets and animals to shelters. Thousands of animals had already been displaced, the organisation said.
Maui is home to 117,000 people.
HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP
— Maui Humane Society (@mauihumane) August 9, 2023
1) SOS Foster-We need to get animals OUT of the shelter to make space!
2) Drop off pet supplies (Food, litter and pop-up kennels)-These will be handed out to the community
3) Donate-so we can continue to perform lifesaving medical procedures #hurricanedora pic.twitter.com/wTqsCasC18
Hawaii News Now has shared images and videos showing the extent of the damage from the wildfires currently burning on Hawaii:
#BREAKING: This new image from helicopter pilot Richard Olsten shows the scope of the devastation in Lahaina town after raging wildfires last night.
— Hawaii News Now (@HawaiiNewsNow) August 9, 2023
For the latest: https://t.co/hGkr7eRdpv
Red Cross reunification link: https://t.co/HT5Rdp08Su pic.twitter.com/ym1EAmS0Sn
Viewer video shows an apocalyptical scene in Lahaina: https://t.co/hGkr7eRdpv #HINews #HNN pic.twitter.com/NLh9YDPRAm
— Hawaii News Now (@HawaiiNewsNow) August 10, 2023
Here, in case you missed it earlier, is a map showing where the fires are:
In what is likely to be one of the defining images of this disaster, the hall of the historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission have been destroyed in the fires.
'Thousands of acres' burned
The fires have burned ‘thousands of acres’, Acting Hawaii Governor Sylvia Luke said. The fires are still burning, and the extent of the damage is not yet known.
Deanne Criswell, administrator of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has spoken to Hawaii’s acting governor, Sylvia Luke, and has “authorized assistance to support firefighting efforts”, she said on Twitter.
I just spoke with Lt Gov @lgsylvialuke about the severe wildfires impacting Hawaii. @fema has already authorized assistance to support firefighting efforts & will continue to stay in constant communication w/ the state. Residents should stay vigilant & listen to local officials.
— Deanne Criswell (@FEMA_Deanne) August 10, 2023
High winds expected to continue through the night
High winds are expected to continue, according to the Maui County Emergency Management Agency, which has just published a new wind advisory warning that while wind speeds are slowing, they “remain elevated enough to warrant keeping a wind advisory in effect through tonight”.
— MEMA (@Maui_EMA) August 10, 2023
What is driving the fires?
The cause of the fires has not been determined but they broke out as the island faced strong winds and low humidity that the National Weather Service had warned would bring high fire danger with the risk of rapid spread.
Hawaii was facing drought conditions and was in the midst of its dry season when Hurricane Dora, several hundred miles away, brought especially strong winds.
The islands are sandwiched between high pressure to the north and a low pressure system associated with Dora, several hundred miles away, said Jeff Powell, a meteorologist in Honolulu. The differences in air pressure drove unusually strong trade winds that fanned the destructive flames.
The winds, strengthened by the hurricane, knocked out power lines and, moving downslope, contributed to the extreme spread of flames. Downslope winds are drivers of the highest impact fires, Neil Lareau, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Nevada, Reno, said on Twitter.
Watching this devastating video you can see the telltale signs of a downslope windstorm with strong near-surface flow overtopped with much weaker and sometimes recirculating winds. We've seen this time and time again: downslope wind storms are drivers of the highest impact fires. https://t.co/akCefL4KXB pic.twitter.com/cq4oqNMwjE
— Neil Lareau (@nplareau) August 9, 2023
Downslope wind-driven fires have been responsible for 60% of structures lost and 52% of deaths in wildfires in the American west since 1999, according to a 2023 study.
Here are images of some of the preparations being made for people injured or displaced by the fires on Maui, which as far as we know are still burning.
Maui Memorial Hospital has set up a triage centre to treat people injured in the fires:
Maui High School has been turned into a shelter for people displaced by the fires:
How did the disaster unfold?
The fires appear to have burned first in vegetation and then rapidly spread into populated areas as wind gusts of over 60mph rocked the island. The conflagration swept into coastal Lahaina with alarming speed and ferocity, blazing through intersections and leaping across wooden buildings in a town center that dates to the 1700s and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Residents raced on to crowded roads, some of which were blocked with flaming debris. The US Coast Guard on Tuesday rescued 14 people, including two children, who had jumped into the water to escape.
“This was a classic wildland urban interface fire where there was a vegetation fire but it moved into an urban area and started burning structure to structure,” said the climate scientist Daniel Swain.
This video taken by a Maui resident shows the damage done by the fires to the town of Lahaina.
Just to note: the video appears to be real, but has not been fully verified by the Guardian.
New video from Front Street shows virtually all of downtown Lahaina has been burned down. pic.twitter.com/i4ViDhz8K7
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) August 9, 2023
This image shows flames moving down Front street, the main shopping street in the historical town of Lahaina:
Here is Hawaii Governor Josh Green’s full statement. It is currently nearing 3pm on Maui. Governor Green is expected to speak this evening.
— Governor Josh Green (@GovJoshGreenMD) August 9, 2023
What we know so far
Here is what we know about the fires burning on Hawaii’s Maui island:
Six people have been killed in the unprecedented wildfires that tore through the Hawaiian island of Maui overnight, authorities said. Two dozen people are injured, and authorities are making preparations for as many as 4,000 people displaced by the fires.
Three separate wildfires have been burning on the island of Maui, including one that destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina. Lahaina holds strong cultural significance. It was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom under Kings Kamehameha II and III from 1820 to 1845, and served as a main port for the North Pacific whaling fleet, according to the National Park Service. Historic buildings along Lahaina’s popular Front Street were “charred and flattened skeletons on Wednesday,” the Associated Press reported, with “powerlines draped across roadways”.
Rescuers with the US Coast Guard pulled a dozen people from the ocean water off Lahaina after they dived in to escape smoke and flames.
US president Joe Biden said he had “ordered all available Federal assets on the Islands to help with response.” Biden expressed condolences “to the families of those who lost loved ones in the wildfires in Maui” and said his and his wife Jill Biden’s “prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed.”
Although Maui airport is still operating, an estimated 2,000 travellers were sheltering at Kahului Airport on Maui early Wednesday morning, according to Maui county’s Facebook page.
Hurricane Dora, which passed south of the islands this week, ihas contributed to the severity of the fires by exacerbating a low-pressure system and increasing the difference in air pressure to create “unusually strong trade winds,” said Genki Kino, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Honolulu.
The County of Maui and other local government officials have turned to Facebook and Twitter to warn residents that the 911 system was down on parts of the island, the Associated Press reports, and that they should call police departments directly if needed.
Several burn patients from Maui were being treated at Straub Medical Center in Honolulu, the hospital has said in a statement. The facility has the only specialised burn unit in Hawaii.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green is expected to be back in Hawaii on Wednesday evening, after returning home from a scheduled trip. Green has been in contact with the White House, and is preparing to request emergency federal assistance sometime in the next two days, once he has a better idea of the damage, his office said in a news release. Hundreds of families have been displaced and much of Lahaina on Maui has been destroyed, Green said in the statement.
Officials have released very little information about the scope of damage caused by the wildfires, but satellite images from NASA, seen by the Associated Press, appear to show active flames throughout much of the historic town of Lahaina. Another Maui wildfire was burning near the town of Kihei.
Updated
Officials preparing for people displaced by fires
Officials are preparing the Hawaii Convention Centre in Honolulu to accommodate up to 4,000 people displaced by the wildfires that swept across parts of Maui, the Associated Press reports.
James Tokioka, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said the centre is not just for tourists, but also for locals.
“Local people have lost everything,” he said. “They’ve lost their house, they’ve lost their animals.”
Climate change not only increases the fire risk by driving up temperatures, but also makes stronger hurricanes more likely. In turn, those storms could fuel stronger wind events like the one behind the Maui fires.
Strong winds from Hurricane Dora have helped spread the fires burning on Maui, and made extinguishing them much more difficult.
“There’s an increasing trend in the intensity of hurricanes worldwide, in part because warm air holds more water,” Erica Fleishman, Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University, told the Associated Press.
“In addition to that, sea levels are rising worldwide, so you tend to get more severe flooding from the storm surge when a hurricane makes landfall.”
While climate change can’t be said to directly cause singular events, experts say, the impact extreme weather is having on communities is undeniable.
“These kinds of climate change-related disasters are really beyond the scope of things that we’re used to dealing with,” said Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia’s faculty of forestry.
“It’s these kind of multiple, interactive challenges that really lead to a disaster.”
Richard Olsten, a helicopter pilot for a tour company, flew over the fire site on Wednesday and said Lahaina “looked like a bomb went off.”
“It’s horrifying. I’ve flown here 52 years and I’ve never seen anything come close to that. We had tears in our eyes, the other pilots on board and the mechanics and me,” he said, recalling even the boats in the harbour were burned.
“We never thought we’d experience anything like this in our whole life,” he said.
Why is Lahaina historically significant?
Lahaina holds strong cultural significance, AP explains. It was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom under Kings Kamehameha II and III from 1820 to 1845, and served as a main port for the North Pacific whaling fleet, according to the National Park Service.
Historic buildings along Lahaina’s popular Front Street were “charred and flattened skeletons on Wednesday,” the AP reports, with “powerlines draped across roadways”.
“We got out in the nick of time yesterday,” Lahaina resident Keʻeaumoku Kapu told AP. He was at the cultural centre he runs in the historic section of town Tuesday, tying down loose objects in the wind, when his wife showed up at around 4pm and said they needed to evacuate. “Right at that time, things got crazy. The wind started picking up,” he said.
Updated
2,000 people sheltering at Maui airport
Although Maui airport is still operating, an estimated 2,000 travellers, some newly arrived and others from canceled flights, were sheltering at Kahului Airport on Maui early Wednesday morning, according to Maui county’s Facebook page.
Officials are discouraging non-essential travel, and some airlines are offering free rescheduling for people who plan to travel to Maui in the next few days.
Burn patients flown to Honolulu
Several burn patients from Maui were being treated at Straub Medical Center in Honolulu, the hospital has said in a statement. The facility has the only specialised burn unit in Hawaii.
Emergency Services Department spokesperson Shayne Enright said a woman in her 60s was transported from Maui to the burn centre and was in critical condition.
The Associated Press has taken a closer look at what is driving the fires on Maui and spoken to meteorologists who said major differences in air pressure drove unusually strong trade winds that fanned the destructive flames.
Trade winds are a normal feature of Hawaii’s climate. They’re caused when air moves from the high-pressure system pressure north of Hawaii — known as the North Pacific High — to the area of low pressure at the equator, to the south of the state.
But Hurricane Dora, which passed south of the islands this week, is exacerbating the low-pressure system and increasing the difference in air pressure to create “unusually strong trade winds,” said Genki Kino, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Honolulu.
Strong winds, combined with low humidity and an abundance of dry vegetation that burns easily, can increase the danger, even on a tropical island.
“If you have all of those conditions at the same time, it’s often what the National Weather Service calls ‘red flag conditions,’” Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University, told AP.
Maui airport still operating
At least 4,000 tourists are still trying to leave western Maui, according to Ed Sniffen, a worker at the Hawaii Department of Transportation, who spoke to Reuters.
Though at least 16 roads are closed, Maui airport is still operating fully.
“I was the last one off the dock when the firestorm came through the banyan trees and took everything with it. And I just ran out and helped everyone I could along the way,” a tourism worker named Dustin Johnson told Reuters. He was in Lahaina Harbor working for a charter boat company that offers two-hour tours when fires reached the town.
“We just had the worst disaster I’ve ever seen. All of Lahaina is burnt to a crisp. It’s like an apocalypse,” said Lahaina resident Mason Jarvi, who escaped from city, told Reuters today.
Wearing shorts, he showed reporters the blisters on his thigh caused by the heat and flames he was exposed to when riding through flames on his electric bike to save his dog.
Here is more video, via CNN:
Evacuations are underway across Hawaii’s Big Island and Maui as passing Hurricane Dora helps fuel wildfires that have damaged structures, spurring people jump into the ocean to escape danger, officials said. https://t.co/E1O65beDhC pic.twitter.com/NmEweZXAyi
— CNN (@CNN) August 9, 2023
This map from NASA shows the locations of the fires on the island of Maui. The historic town of Lahaina is where the western-most fire is:
With power outages and cellular service and phone lines down in some areas, people are struggling to check in with friends and family members living near the wildfires, the Associated Press reports.
Tiare Lawrence, who grew up in Lahaina, was frantically trying to reach her siblings Wednesday morning. They live in a residential area of Lahaina, near where a gas station exploded, Lawrence said.
“There’s no service so we can’t get ahold of anyone,” she said from the upcountry Maui community of Pukalani. “We’re still having hurricane-force winds.”
Her home was serving as a refuge for 14 cousins and uncles who fled the heat, smoke and flames in Lahaina.
“It was apocalyptic, from what they explained,” she said.
Lahaina is often thought of as just a tourist town, but has “a very strong Hawaiian community,” Lawrence said.
“I’m just heartbroken. Everywhere, our memories,” she said. “Everyone’s homes. Everyone’s lives have tragically changed in the last 12 hours.”
911 down on parts of the island
The County of Maui and other local government officials have turned to Facebook and Twitter to warn residents that the 911 system was down on parts of the island, the Associated Press reports, and that they should call police departments directly if needed.
Updated
Here is an aerial view of smoke from the fires:
Hawaii Governor Josh Green expected to speak on Wednesday evening
Hawaii Governor Josh Green, is expected to be back in Hawaii on Wednesday evening, after returning home from a scheduled trip.
Green has been in contact with the White House, and is preparing to request emergency federal assistance sometime in the next two days, once he has a better idea of the damage, his office said in a news release.
Hundreds of families have been displaced and much of Lahaina on Maui has been destroyed, Green said in the statement.
“Heroic efforts by first responders have prevented many casualties from occurring, but some loss of life is expected,” he said. “Our entire emergency response team, including the Hawai‘i National Guard has mobilised and is being supported by FEMA.”
Biden: 'our prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed'
Biden has released a longer statement on the fires, saying he urges “all residents to continue to follow evacuation orders, listen to the instructions of first responders and officials, and stay alert”.
The full statement reads:
Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in the wildfires in Maui, and our prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed. We are grateful to the brave firefighters and first responders who continue to run toward danger, putting themselves in harm’s way to save lives.
I have ordered all available Federal assets on the Islands to help with response. The Hawaiian National Guard has mobilised Chinook Helicopters to help with fire suppression and search and rescue on the Island of Maui. The US Coast Guard and Navy Third Fleets are supporting response and rescue efforts. The US Marines are providing Black Hawk Helicopters to fight the fires on the Big Island. The Department of Transportation is working with commercial airlines to evacuate tourists from Maui, and the Department of the Interior and the United States Department of Agriculture stand ready to support post fire recovery efforts.
I urge all residents to continue to follow evacuation orders, listen to the instructions of first responders and officials, and stay alert.
Kekai Keahi was in New Mexico dropping off his son at college when he found out the fire had destroyed his Lahaina community, the AP reports.
“There is no Lahaina,” he said. “Lahaina no exist anymore.”
His son won’t stay in New Mexico, and he will go back to Maui with him Wednesday.
“He gotta,” Keahi said. “We have to rebuild.”
Keahi, who is a teacher at Lahaina Intermediate School, helped build many homes in Lahaina. “I’m pretty sure we’ll pull together and rebuild. But I don’t know how many years it will take us to rebuild,” he said.
Here is video of the fires burning overnight:
What caused the fires ?
It is currently 1 pm in Maui. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined but the National Weather Service said the fires were fuelled by a mix of dry vegetation, strong winds, and low humidity, AP reports. According to the University of Hawaii, large fires are an almost annual occurrence in some parts of the Hawaiian archipelago, though the scope of these fires is unusual.
Human-caused climate change, driven by fossil fuel use, is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, including drought, wildfires and strong winds.
Officials said the winds from Hurricane Dora fanned the flames across the state. The storm was about 860 miles (1,380 km) southwest of Honolulu as of 11 am local time (2100 GMT), the National Hurricane Centre said.
The worst of the high winds should end by late Wednesday or early Thursday, said Ian Martin, an NWS forecaster in Honolulu.
Updated
Biden: 'all available federal assets' sent to Hawaii
US President Joe Biden has responded to the fires, saying that he has sent “all available federal assets on the islands to help with the response”.
Updated
The Associated Press has spoken to Lahaina locals.
Alan Dickar, owns the Vintage European Posters gallery, which has been on Lahaina’s Front street, its main street of shops, for 23 years. He watched wildfires burn through the street on Tuesday, and now is not sure what is left of his gallery. Dickar called Front street the “economic heart of this island.”
“Every significant thing I owned burned down today,” he said. “I’ll be OK. I got out safely.”
Updated
Flames still burning through historic town
Officials have released very little information about the scope of damage caused by the wildfires, but satellite images from NASA, seen by the Associated Press, appear to show active flames throughout much of the historic town of Lahaina. Another Maui wildfire was burning near the town of Kihei.
The satellite images support videos and photos posted to social media sites that showed flames roaring through the town and burned-down buildings.
This video via an editor at the Huffington Post shows the fires burning overnight:
Wildfires burning structures in historic Lahaina Town on the island of Maui have forced people to flee into the oceanhttps://t.co/DIhx7G20mS pic.twitter.com/BAFbMTr4f5
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 9, 2023
People pulled from ocean after attempt to escape fires burning on Hawaiian island of Maui
Unprecedented wildfires burned through the Hawaiian island of Maui overnight and are not yet under control.
At least six people have died and more than two dozen have been injured, according to authorities.
The fires, fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora, destroyed businesses in the historic town of Lahaina and rescuers with the US Coast Guard pulled a dozen people from the ocean water off the town after they dived in to escape smoke and flames.
More than 2,100 people spent the night in four shelters on the island. State officials said they did not want any visitors to come to Maui, and that current visitors should leave.
Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who is serving as acting governor because Gov. Josh Green was out of state, said shelters are overflowing and resources are taxed. Thirty power lines are also down, leaving homes, hotels and shelters without electricity, the Associated Press reports.
The Lahaina fire is not yet under control, Bissen said, and officials have not determined what started the wildfires.
“I can tell you that we did not anticipate having this many fires simultaneously,” he said.
Updated
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the unprecedented wildfires burning on the Hawaii’s Maui island.
At least six people have been killed in three wildfires that have raced across parts of of the island, mayor Richard Bissen said. More than two dozen people have been injured and thousands spent the night in shelters.
Bissen confirmed the deaths during a press conference on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports.
Much of the historic town of Lahaina has been destroyed and the fire is not yet under control.
It is just past noon in Hawaii. We’ll bring you the latest updates as they happen.
You can send news, questions, or information you think we may have missed to me on Twitter here, or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
