Devastating Wildfire Leaves 55 Dead, Hundreds Missing In Hawaii

A Wildfire on the island of Maui in Hawaii has killed 55 people and left several others missing.

The wildfires started on Tuesday, August 8 due to a combination of drought conditions and passing winds caused by Hurricane Dora.

Hawaiian Governor, Josh Green, has described the fires as the largest natural disaster in the state’s history, adding that 80% of the historic seaside town of Lahaina, which was once the state’s capital, has been burnt completely.

The town is well known for its historic sites many of which have been damaged or completely destroyed by the wildfire, including the oldest hotel in Hawaii, the Pioneer Inn, which was 122 years old.

Tourists and citizens in the seaside town at the time of the fire were forced to jump into the sea and tread water for hours as the fires blazed.

The island of Maui is a huge tourist destination, sometimes bringing in as many as 2 million tourists per year, as such when the fires began to rage earlier this week, as many as 11,000 tourists were forced to evacuate the island. Many of them are still waiting at the Kahului Airport for evacuation.

Unfortunately, the death toll is expected to rise and officials have also announced that many people have been rendered homeless as up to 1,000 buildings have been leveled completely.

“It’s going to take many years to rebuild Lahaina,” Green told a news conference, as officials began to map out a plan to shelter the newly homeless in hotels and tourist rental properties.

“It will be a new Lahaina that Maui builds in its own image with its own values,” he added.

The quick-spreading inferno began outside the town and moved into the city of Lahaina. It is one of three major wildfires in Maui, all of which are still burning.