Wildfire rages across Maui, people jump into the ocean to flee the flames

A wildfire is tearing through the heart of Maui with alarming speed and ferocity, destroying homes and businesses in a historic tourist town, injuring at least two dozen people and forcing panicked residents to jump into the ocean to flee the flames.

The County of Maui tweeted “Do NOT go to Lahaina Town,” hours before all roads in and out of West Maui’s biggest community were closed to everyone except emergency personnel.

Firefighting effort continuing in West Maui, Pulehu and Upcountry https://t.co/NACz2bPn4e pic.twitter.com/K7Tqt6S8Pf

— County of Maui (@CountyofMaui) August 9, 2023

County spokesperson Mahina Martin said Wednesday that the fire is widespread in Lahaina, including on Front Street, a popular tourist destination. She says traffic has been very heavy as people try to evacuate.

Photos posted by the county overnight showed a line of flames blazing across an intersection and leaping above buildings in the town centre that dates to the 1700s and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Aerial video from after sunrise revealed entire blocks of buildings reduced to ash and thick smoke in the air.

More than 2,100 people spent the night in evacuation centres. Kahului Airport, the main airport in Maui, was sheltering 2,000 travellers whose flights were cancelled or who recently arrived on the island, the county said.

Crews on Maui were battling multiple blazes concentrated in two areas: The tourist destination of West Maui and an inland, mountainous region. In West Maui, 911 service was out and residents were directed to call the police department directly.

The Coast Guard on Tuesday rescued 14 people — including two children — who had fled into the ocean to escape the fire and smoky conditions, the county said in a statement.

Six patients were flown from Maui to the island of Oahu on Tuesday night, said Speedy Bailey, regional director for Hawaii Life Flight, an air-ambulance company. Three of them had critical burns and were taken to Straub Medical Centre’s burn unit, he said. He had not heard of any deaths.

There is no power nor phone service to much of the island.

Tiare Lawrence was frantically trying to reach her siblings Wednesday morning, but there was no phone service. Her home in the Maui community of Pukalani, east of Lahaina, was refuge for 14 cousins and uncles who fled Lahaina.

“It was apocalyptic from what they explained,” Lawrence said. “The heat. Smoke and flames everywhere. They had to get my elderly uncle out of the home.”

— With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press