The wildfires at Hawaii’s Maui have resulted in the deaths of 53 people, the number could rise further. The wildfires at Hawaii have also destroyed the most popular resort town of Lahaina that will require many years and billions of dollars to rebuild, said officials on Thursday.
Governor Josh Green referred to the wildfires as the worst natural disaster in Hawaiian history that left much of Lahaina to burning ruins, people homeless and destroying at least 1,000 buildings. Addressing a conference, Green said, “It’s going to take many years to rebuild Lahaina,” while authorities make arrangements to shift homeless people in different properties like hotels and rentals. He further added, “It will be a new Lahaina that Maui builds in its own image with its own values.” He talked about the town that attracts 2 million tourists every year, equivalent to 80% of the island’s visitors.
The wildfire started on Tuesday and has since been moving fast from the outer town while destroying the historic city of Lahaina, once the capital of Hawaiian kingdom, in its path.
It was one of three large wildfires on Maui that were started by dry conditions, a buildup of fuel, and wind gusts of 60 mph (100 kph). All three of them are still burning today.
Federal recovery funds have begun to come in addition to a flow of supplies and equipment, despite the fact that firefighters are still putting out smaller fires and search and rescue teams almost definitely have not yet located all the deceased.
According to officials, cadaver dogs from California and Washington were among the help that was arriving and will help search and rescue crews scour the ruins.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said, “Understand this: Lahaina town is hallowed, sacred ground right now. We have to get them out,” while pointing to remains that have yet to be recovered.
The western portion of Maui, which has a year-round population of around 166,000 people, was evacuated, and many tourists and locals took refuge elsewhere on the island or on the nearby island of Oahu. Guests camped out at the Kahului Airport while they awaited planes home.
Green predicted that the disaster’s scale will surpass that of the 1960 Big Island tsunami, which claimed 61 lives and occurred one year after Hawaii became a U.S. state.
Some people jumped into the Pacific Ocean to escape the flames.
One of them was Vixay Phonxaylinkham, a traveller from Fresno, California, who claimed that as the fires approached, the care he was already stuck in with his wife and kids, they had to abandon that and were forced to plunge in water.
Firefighters have secured the perimeter of the burned wildland areas, according to a statement from Maui County, which stated that the Lahaina fire was 80% contained.
About 20 miles (30 km) east of Lahaina, the Pulehu fire was 70% contained. According to Maui County, there was no estimate for the Upcountry fire, which is located in the island’s eastern mass.
This summer, scenes of flaming destruction have become all too often in other parts of the world. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated due to wildfires in Greece, Spain, Portugal, and other regions of Europe, often brought on by heat records. A series of particularly intense fires in western Canada polluted the air by spreading clouds of smoke over large areas of the United States.
