Death toll from Maui fires rises to 53, governor says

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Thursday that 53 people were killed in the devastating Maui wildfires, and the death toll will likely continue to rise.

Search and rescue operations were continuing, Green said, and officials expect it will become the state’s deadliest natural disaster since a 1961 tsunami killed 61 people on the Big Island.

More than 1,000 structures were destroyed by fires that are still burning in Lahaina and surrounding areas.

“Lahaina, with a few rare exceptions, has been burned down,” the governor told The Associated Press.

The wildfire that has brought sheer devastation to Hawaii’s Maui struck Lahaina, one of its most historic cities and the onetime capital of the former kingdom. pic.twitter.com/tcxc47zYQu

— The Associated Press (@AP) August 10, 2023

More than 1,000 structures were destroyed by fires that were still burning, he said.

The death toll will likely rise as search and rescue operations continue, Green added, and officials expect it will become the state’s deadliest natural disaster since a 1961 tsunami killed 61 people on the Big Island.

“We are heartsick,” Green said.

Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the fire started Tuesday and took Maui by surprise, racing through parched growth covering the island and then feasting on homes and anything else that lay in its path.

A flyover of historic Lahaina showed entire neighbourhoods that had been a vibrant vision of colour and island life reduced to gray ash.

Block after block was nothing but rubble and blackened foundations, including along the famous Front Street, where tourists shopped and dined just days ago. Boats in the harbour were scorched, and smoke hovered over the town, which dates to the 1700s and is the biggest community on the island’s west side.

The official death toll of 53 as of Thursday makes this the deadliest U.S. wildfire since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and laid waste to the town of Paradise.

The Hawaii toll could rise, though, as rescuers reach parts of the island that had been inaccessible due to the three ongoing fires, including the one in Lahaina that was 80 per cent contained on Thursday, according to a Maui County news release.

More than 270 structures have been damaged or destroyed, and dozens of people have been injured, including some critically.