At least 36 people have died in the Hawaiian island of Maui and thousands of residents have raced to escape their homes as wildfires have swept across the island, the Maui County said in a statement Wednesday night.
An emergency proclamation relating to wildfires in Maui and Hawaii Counties was announced in a press release by the office of the governor on Tuesday.
The wildfires have spread through Lahaina, a historic town on Maui, decimating and destroying much of the downtown area and “Front Street” in the town, which was designated a national historic landmark in the US in 1962.
A satellite image shows an overview of an area in Lahaina, Maui. Photograph: Maxar Technologies/Reuters
Flyovers conducted by the US Civil Air Patrol and the Maui Fire Department earlier said that 271 structures were damaged or destroyed, and dozens of people injured.
The exact cause of the blaze is still unknown, however, drought Drought worsened in Hawaii over the past week, worsening the spread of the fire, according to the latest US drought monitor released Thursday morning.
Hawaii Drought. Source: US Drought Centre
In a Wednesday brieifing, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, commander general of the Hawaii Army National Guard, said that while they do not know what actually ignited the fires, they “were made aware in advance by the National Weather Service that there was a red flag situation.” “So that’s dry conditions for a long time, so the fuel, the trees and everything, was dry… along with low humidity and high winds, set the conditions for the wildfires,” he said.