At least six dead in a fire fanned by hurricane winds in tourist areas of Hawaii

Burn paradise. Some “unprecedented” fires, fueled by the winds of Hurricane Dora – which was passing hundreds of kilometers away – and very dry weather conditions, devastate the US archipelago of Hawaii, where they have left at least six dead and several injured and missing, thousands of tourists trapped, evacuations have been ordered and a city has been badly damaged. The fire advanced so quickly that it forced some people to jump into the sea to escape the flames.

“It has been confirmed that we have had six fatalities,” said Richard Bissen, the mayor of the tourist island of Maui, the third most populous in the archipelago, with 117,000 residents, and the most affected by the fire. Search and rescue tasks continue, without the full extent of the damage being fully known to date: mobile phone services are disrupted, making communications and emergency notifications difficult.

The fire has consumed homes and businesses on the Big Island, the largest in the archipelago, and on Maui. On this idyllic island, visited each year by hundreds of thousands of tourists, the flames have closed roads and schools and have forced the mobilization of the National Guard to assist in rescue and firefighting efforts.

The historic city of Lahaina, the former capital of the archipelago with roots in the 18th century, once a thriving whaling center and now an important tourist center, is the most affected point. Much of its urban core has been destroyed, according to Green. Its old town, a picturesque set of wooden buildings full of shops and restaurants on the seashore, was engulfed in flames, as can be seen in a series of videos and photographs posted by its residents on social networks. Its iconic Front Street, the boardwalk avenue, was burning. Gardens where days ago concerts of traditional music were offered in the open air in the shade of the banyan trees and street stalls that promised idyllic boat trips are surrounded by smoke, while a curtain of fire advances.

“Buildings on both sides of the street were engulfed in flames. At that time there were no fire trucks, I think the department was overwhelmed,” Alan Dickar, owner of several houses in downtown Lahaina and an old poster shop on Front Street, who was seen, told the digital Honolulu Civil Beat. forced to evacuate the town.

The fire on Maui was not limited to Lahaina. The emergency services were also fighting other outbreaks on the slopes of the Haleakala volcano, a mountain over 3,000 meters high that dominates the south of the island, and had organized four shelters to accommodate evacuees from the populations in the affected area. The airport in the capital, Kahului, accommodated more than 2,000 travelers whose departure flights had been canceled or who had just arrived and could not continue their journey to their hotels or residences.

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“The local people have lost everything,” Maui director of economic development and tourism, James Kunane Tokioka, told a news conference. “Her house, her animals. It’s awful”. In Lahaina, at least a dozen people jumped into the sea to flee the fire and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard.

For his part, Hawaii Governor Joseph Green, pointed out in a statement that “we have suffered a terrible disaster in the form of wildfires that have spread widely as a result of hurricane force winds in the region and underlying conditions of drought. Maui and the Big Island (Hawaii) have suffered major fires. Much of Lahaina on Maui has been destroyed, and hundreds of resident families have been displaced,” Green said in a statement.

The governor, who has interrupted his vacation to return immediately to Honolulu, will ask Washington for a disaster zone declaration. The White House ensures that President Joe Biden, on tour of the southwestern states, is kept informed of events.

In addition to the winds brought by Dora – which will bypass the islands – the fire has been helped by a lack of rain this year, which has dried up the vegetation and turned it into food for the flames. One-third of Maui’s territory is under moderate to severe drought conditions. A phenomenon that scientists warn is increasing and that the archipelago is registering more and more dry days in a row as a result of climate change.

“We never imagined in this state that a hurricane that hasn’t made landfall on our islands would unleash these types of wildfires. Fires that have swept away communities, that have swept away businesses, that have destroyed homes,” said Hawaiian Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke at the press conference.

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