An aerial view of Lahaina after a wildfire tore through the town last week. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Including how you can help.
The outbreak of wildfires last week in Maui, Hawaii — a state known for its beaches and rainforests but typically not fire — is now the nation’s deadliest such event in more than 100 years. The fires burned thousands of acres and killed nearly 100 people, a greater death toll than any wildfire in California, a state known for its destructive blazes. Hundreds remain missing in Maui, and the death toll is expected to rise.
“This is the largest natural disaster in our history,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said, referring to Hawaii, in a statement Sunday. “It is a harrowing site in Maui.”
Sebastien Vuagnat/AFP via Getty Images
A view from above of homes and buildings in Lahaina that were reduced to rubble by a wildfire last week.
Images show that much of Lāhainā, a historic town on Maui’s west coast, has been reduced to rubble and ashes. The fire moved so quickly there last week that 17 people ran into the ocean for safety, where they were rescued by the coast guard.
As of Sunday night, much of the fire had been contained, allowing officials to search for survivors and assess the damage. Now people are asking questions about what sparked the blaze and why residents weren’t given more time to flee.
Experts also warn that these kinds of disasters could happen again as the climate warms, deepening drought and making vegetation more likely to burn. Here’s what to know so far.
This story will be updated regularly with new developments.
1) This is the nation’s deadliest wildfire in more than a century
The wildfires have killed at least 96 people as of Sunday night, according to the Maui Police Department. Officials expect that number to rise as hundreds of people are still unaccounted for in western Maui, where the damage is most extreme.
The event is the deadliest natural disaster in Hawaii’s history — deadlier, even, than a tsunami that struck the state in 1960, killing 61 people. And it now has a higher death toll than any wildfire in the US since 1918, when blazes in Minnesota killed as many as 1,000 people.
It may be weeks before officials know the exact death toll.
Paula Ramon/AFP via Getty Images
A burned truck seen in Lahaina on August 11.
2) More the 2,200 structures in the town of Lahaina were damaged or destroyed.
The fires, which began in grasslands, utterly devastated Lahaina, once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom known for its historic buildings and cultural significance and now a town of 13,000 people. The blazes damaged or destroyed more than 2,200 structures in Lahaina, which have an estimated value of $5.5 billion, according to the Pacific Disaster Center and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“There’s very little left there,” Gov. Green said of Lahaina on Sunday.
One of the town’s most iconic landmarks, a large banyan tree that stretches an entire block, has been badly charred but it remains standing. The tree is 150 years old and some say it represents the spirit of Lahaina.
Paula Ramon/AFP via Getty Images
The Lahaina banyan tree.
3) It’s still not clear what ignited the fires. But we know how they became extreme.
Officials have not yet pinpointed a source of ignition. The majority of wildfires in Hawaii (and the US mainland) are caused by people or human infrastructure, such as power lines, versus lightning or other natural sources.
What is clear, however, is that Maui was primed to burn. Summer is the dry season in Hawaii, and dry, hot weather provides the foundation for extreme wildfires. Heat sucks moisture out of vegetation, essentially turning it into kindling. Early last week, as the blazes took off, nearly 16 percent of Maui County was in a severe drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. Climate change is likely making these droughts worse (more on that below).
Strong winds only added to the problem. Hurricane Dora, which churned hundreds of miles offshore last week as a Category 4 storm, brought gusts of wind that at times reached 80 miles per hour, fueling the flames and helping them race across western Maui at a dangerous pace.
4) The government faces scrutiny for failing to warn residents and responding slowly in the aftermath.
The fires in Maui weren’t particularly large, engulfing only a few thousand acres. So why were they so deadly? It will likely take weeks for investigators to fully answer this question, but there are a few reasons we know so far.
The big one: People had very little time to evacuate.
That’s partly due to the nature of the fire. Supercharged by strong winds linked to Hurricane Dora, it moved quickly, jumping from rural grasslands into residential neighborhoods. And again, those lands were dry and full of fuel.
Rick Bowmer/AP
A man bikes along Main Street with his dog, in Lahaina, on August 11.
But some people have also pointed out problems in the island’s disaster response. Maui has a system of outdoor warning sirens, which are designed to alert people of threatening events like hurricanes and tsunamis. They apparently didn’t go off. And while officials did send alerts to mobile phones, cell service was disrupted last week on much of the island.
Making matters worse, strong winds and power outages made it challenging for firefighters to extinguish or even contain the blazes. At one point, fire hydrants started running dry, according to the New York Times.
Since last week, residents say they’ve struggled to find food, shelter, gasoline, and other necessities, the New York Times reported. Some people are frustrated by a slow and insufficient humanitarian response from the local or federal government.
5) Despite warnings of fire weather, the island’s main electric utility kept power lines electrified.
Days before the fires broke in Lahaina, weather forecasters warned officials that strong winds could create fire conditions in parts of Hawaii, according to the Washington Post. Yet Hawaiian Electric, a utility that provides power to 95 percent of the state’s residents, didn’t shut off power in regions where those conditions were expected.
Rick Bowmer/AP
Linemen work on power lines on August 13, 2023, in Lahaina.
So-called public power shutoff plans are meant to ensure that power lines don’t produce sparks if they get damaged by winds. Last week, winds in Maui downed several power lines, which could have been the source of the blazes. (Some of California’s most damaging blazes, including the 2018 Camp Fire, were ignited by power lines.)
Hawaiian Electric was “not as proactive as they should have been,” Jennifer Potter, a former member of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, said in an interview with the Washington Post. The utility is now facing a class action lawsuit for not doing more last week.
The power company told the Post that it did take some steps to make its power lines safer. The utility also acknowledged the challenge of shutting off power with short notice, especially as firefighting crews might need power to pump water.
6) The fires are now mostly contained but environmental hazards remain.
Wildfires are still burning in parts of Maui, but the worst appears to be over.
As of Sunday night, the Lahaina fire was 85 percent contained, having burned 2,170 acres, according to Maui County. “There are no active threats at this time,” the county said about the Lahaina fire in a statement Sunday. Another fire, burning in a more rural part of the island, is still 40 percent uncontained, the county said on Sunday night.
Yet health hazards could remain for weeks or even months after the last flames are extinguished. The fires burned through all kinds of infrastructure and materials, which can leak harmful chemicals into the air and water, such as lead or asbestos from older buildings.
7) Climate change is priming Hawaii for extreme wildfires.
Carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels are making the planet hotter and deepening droughts around the world. Hawaii is no exception. The state is roughly two degrees warmer than it was in 1950. Meanwhile, there’s less rainfall in 90 percent of the state compared to a century ago, according to the state government.
Together, hotter air and less rainfall dries out vegetation, making it more likely to burn. That’s why places like California and Canada have seen larger and more destructive wildfires in recent years, compared to past decades.
8) Invasive grasses may also be fueling fires in Hawaii.
Over the last century or so, colonists introduced a variety of nonnative grasses to Hawaii, such as guinea grass, which is often used as feed for livestock. These plants are known to outcompete native grasses, and they grow incredibly quickly after rainfall, which can produce an enormous amount of fuel for wildfires.
Invasive grasses have taken over parts of Hawaii and especially abandoned sugarcane farms, due in part to declining agriculture. According to the Hawaii Wildlife Management Organization, nonnative grasslands and shrublands cover nearly one-quarter of the land area in Hawaii.
“Together with a warming, drying climate, and year-round fire season,” the group says, the nonnative grasses “greatly increase the incidence of larger fires.”
Rick Bowmer/AP
A sign saying “tourist keep out” in Lahaina, seen on August 13.
9) Now is the wrong time to visit Maui. But there are ways to help.
Traveling to Maui right now is a bad idea, as the island is focusing its resources on evacuees and people in need, not on housing and feeding tourists.
“In the weeks ahead, the collective resources and attention of the federal, state, and county government, the West Maui community, and the travel industry must be focused on the recovery of residents who were forced to evacuate their homes and businesses,” the Hawaii Tourism Authority said in a statement Saturday.
Many hotels have temporarily stopped accepting new reservations and made their rooms available to local residents who cannot yet return home.
But if you want to help from afar, a number of groups are accepting monetary donations, including the Hawaii Community Foundation, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Maui United Way, and the Maui Food Bank. GoFundMe also has a running list of verified fundraisers.
There’s also a way to help pets, many of which have been injured or lost. The Maui Humane Society is accepting donations (see the links in the image above), or you can purchase items on the group’s Amazon wishlist. “The fires have left thousands of both humans and animals displaced,” the group wrote on Facebook, “causing immense distress and creating an urgent need for solidarity within the community.”