Officials said at least two dozen had been injured as the fire destroyed businesses in the historic town of Lahaina

Six people were killed in the unprecedented wildfires that tore through the Hawaiian island of Maui overnight, authorities said.

The fires, fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora, destroyed businesses in the historic town of Lahaina, and left at least two dozen people injured, officials said at a press conference Wednesday. There have been 13 evacuations for three fires.

Rescuers with the US Coast Guard pulled a dozen people from the ocean water off Lahaina after they had dived in to escape smoke and flames. Burn patients have been flown to the island of Oahu, officials said.

  • Assian_Candor [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    21·
    1 year ago

    It’s wild how fast these spread in the era of climate change

    I was listening to a podcast where the host was interviewing somebody who wrote a book on the 2016 fort McMurray fires, this is similar, but basically the fire throws off so much radiant heat that by the time it gets to a house that house will be like 900 degrees so they don’t just catch fire they literally explode into flames, whole houses burned to the slab in 2-5 minutes; fire breaks are cut but the embers just fly up and over and since everything is so dry it’s like the ground is soaked in gasoline… hell scenes. I feel so bad for those people.

    I also feel like it’s a good idea to make a plan for when a natural disaster like this inevitably hits. Maybe it’s flooding, maybe a tornado, fires or whatever but nowhere is safe now, it’s basically a lottery where you lose everything if your number is called and every year the odds increase in your favor. What would I do if I had to leave my home to be destroyed in 24 hours? Where would I go?

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    15·
    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The fires, fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora, destroyed businesses in the historic town of Lahaina, and left at least two dozen people injured, officials said at a press conference Wednesday.

    Rescuers with the US Coast Guard pulled a dozen people from the ocean water off Lahaina after they had dived in to escape smoke and flames.

    Richard Bissen Jr, the county of Maui mayor, announced the deaths during a Wednesday morning news conference.

    Six patients were flown from Maui to the island of Oahu on Tuesday night, said Speedy Bailey, the regional director for Hawaii Life Flight, an air ambulance company.

    Firefighters were encountering roads blocked by downed trees and power lines as they worked the inland fires, Martin said.

    They tend to break out in large grasslands on the dry sides of the islands and are generally much smaller than mainland fires.

    I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • entropicshart@lemmy.world
    61·
    1 year ago

    I’m confused - they confirmed 6 deaths, but did not know how or where they occurred…. So are the deaths even related to the fire?

    • DarkGamer@kbin.social
      15·
      1 year ago

      In the video that has been circulating of a family escaping the fire storm, they saw someone down in the street, probably dead from smoke inhalation or burns. I suspect there’s a lot more people dead from the fire since it happened at night and burned through populated areas. Some people probably were injured from being in the ocean during a hurricane. This is a chaotic tragedy and more details will be available later.

      • mean_bean279@lemmy.worldEnglish
        9·
        1 year ago

        It looked similar to the paradise fire which took a while before we ever had an accurate count since some people were burned quite heavily or even just basically what large bones are left when they aren’t completely burned and turned to ash by a fire.