The fires have become the deadliest natural disaster in state history, surpassing that of a tsunami that killed
killed 61 people on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1960, a year after Hawaii joined the United States.
Officials have warned that search teams with cadaver dogs could find yet more dead in the blaze that has burned down 1,000 buildings and left thousands homeless, likely taking many years and billions of dollars to rebuild .
Three days after the disaster, it was still unclear whether some residents had received a warning before the fire engulfed their homes.
The island includes emergency sirens meant to warn of natural disasters and other threats, but they do not appear to have sounded during the fire.
“I authorized a full review this morning to make sure we know exactly what happened and when,” Hawaii Governor Josh Green told CNN, referring to the warning sirens.
Officials did not offer a detailed picture of the precise notifications that were sent, and whether they were made via text, email or phone calls.
Green described multiple concurrent challenges, with telecommunications down and firefighters focusing on other major wildfires when the biggest threat to Lahaina emerged.
In any event, he said, “we will do everything we can to find out how to protect our people more in the future.”
Maui County Fire Chief Bradford Ventura told a news conference Thursday that the speed of the blaze made it “almost impossible” for frontline responders to communicate with emergency management officials. which would typically provide real-time evacuation orders.
“They basically self-evacuated with fairly little notice,” he said, referring to residents of the neighborhood where the fire initially broke out.
County Mayor Richard Bissen told NBC’s “Today” program on Friday that he was not sure if the sirens had gone off, but said the fire moved extremely quickly.
“I think it was an impossible situation,” he said.
The disaster began to unfold just after midnight Tuesday when a brush fire was reported in the town of Kula, about 56 miles from Lahaina. About five hours later that morning, the power went out in Lahaina, according to locals.
In updates posted to Facebook that morning, Maui County said the Kula Fire had consumed hundreds of acres of pasture, but a small three-acre brush fire (1.2 hectare) that had arisen in Lahaina had been brought under control.
That afternoon, however, the situation had become more serious. Around 3:30 p.m., according to county updates, the Lahaina Fire suddenly erupted. Some residents began to evacuate while people, including hotel guests, on the west side of town were ordered to shelter in place.
In the hours that followed, the county posted a series of evacuation orders on Facebook as the fire spread through the city.
Some witnesses said they were given no advance notice, describing their terror as the fire consumed Lahaina in what seemed like a matter of minutes. Several people were forced to jump into the Pacific Ocean to save themselves.
Lahaina’s evacuation was complicated by its coastal location next to hills, which meant there were only two exits, at best, said Andrew Rumbach, climate and community specialist at the Urban Institute. from Washington.
“It’s the nightmare scenario,” said Rumbach, a former urban planning professor at the University of Hawaii. “A fast moving fire in a densely populated area with difficult communications, and not many good options in terms of evacuations.”
County officials began allowing Lahaina residents to return home on Friday, even though much of west Maui remained without power or water. But the long traffic jam on the Kuihelani Highway came to a halt after an accident killed a pedestrian and led authorities to close the highway in both directions.
Volunteers formed human chains Friday afternoon at Maalaea Port to transfer infant formula, diapers, clothing, fuel and other supplies onto boats.
Boat captains planned to sail to areas affected by the fires and bring supplies to the beach on jet skis, detached from the area’s tourist industry, as waters were choppy and docks had been damaged by fires.
The Maui fires are the latest wildfires to hit this summer around the world. The fires have forced tens of thousands of people in Greece, Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe to evacuate, while in western Canada smoke from a series of severe fires covered a large swath of the Midwest and East Coast of the United States.
