Maui fires live updates: six dead, dozens injured in Hawaii as Hurricane Dora winds drive wildfires | Hawaii

Authorities say at least 271 structures have been damaged or destroyed in the Maui wildfires.

Officials say assessing the damage of the Maui fires could take weeks or months. But it is becoming clear that the damage will be extensive, AP reports.

Flyovers of Lahaina by US Civil Air Patrol and the Maui Fire Department showed that more than 271 structures were damaged or destroyed, said Mahina Martin, a spokesperson for Maui County.

Here is what we know about the fires burning on Hawaii’s Maui island:

• Six people have been killed in the unprecedented wildfires that tore through the Hawaiian island of Maui overnight, authorities said. Two dozen people are injured, and authorities are making preparations for as many as 4,000 people displaced by the fires and thousands of acres had burned

• High winds were expected to continue throughout the night, the Maui County Emergency Management Agency said. It published a new wind advisory warning that while wind speeds are slowing, they “remain elevated enough to warrant keeping a wind advisory in effect through tonight”.

• Three separate wildfires have been burning on the island of Maui, including one that destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina. Lahaina holds strong cultural significance. It was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom under Kings Kamehameha II and III from 1820 to 1845, and served as a main port for the North Pacific whaling fleet, according to the National Park Service. Historic buildings along Lahaina’s popular Front Street were “charred and flattened skeletons on Wednesday,” the Associated Press reported, with “powerlines draped across roadways”.

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

• US president Joe Biden said he had “ordered all available Federal assets on the Islands to help with response.” Biden expressed condolences “to the families of those who lost loved ones in the wildfires in Maui” and said he and his wife Jill Biden’s “prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed.”

• Although Maui airport is still operating, an estimated 2,000 travellers were sheltering at Kahului Airport on Maui early Wednesday morning, according to Maui county’s Facebook page.

• Hurricane Dora, which passed south of the islands this week, ihas contributed to the severity of the fires by exacerbating a low-pressure system and increasing the difference in air pressure to create “unusually strong trade winds,” said Genki Kino, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Honolulu.

• The County of Maui and other local government officials have turned to Facebook and Twitter to warn residents that the 911 system was down on parts of the island, the Associated Press reports, and that they should call police departments directly if needed.

• Several burn patients from Maui were being treated at Straub Medical Center in Honolulu, the hospital has said in a statement. The facility has the only specialised burn unit in Hawaii.

• Hawaii Governor Josh Green is expected to be back in Hawaii on Wednesday evening, after returning home from a scheduled trip. Green has been in contact with the White House, and is preparing to request emergency federal assistance sometime in the next two days, once he has a better idea of the damage, his office said in a news release. Hundreds of families have been displaced and much of Lahaina on Maui has been destroyed, Green said in the statement.

• Officials have released very little information about the scope of damage caused by the wildfires, but satellite images from NASA, seen by the Associated Press, appear to show active flames throughout much of the historic town of Lahaina. Another Maui wildfire was burning near the town of Kihei.

The fires have burned ‘thousands of acres’, Acting Hawaii Governor Sylvia Luke said. The fires are still burning, and the extent of the damage is not yet known.

High winds are expected to continue, according to the Maui County Emergency Management Agency, which has just published a new wind advisory warning that while wind speeds are slowing, they “remain elevated enough to warrant keeping a wind advisory in effect through tonight”.

What is driving the fires?

Dani Anguiano

The cause of the fires has not been determined but they broke out as the island faced strong winds and low humidity that the National Weather Service had warned would bring high fire danger with the risk of rapid spread.

Hawaii was facing drought conditions and was in the midst of its dry season when Hurricane Dora, several hundred miles away, brought especially strong winds.

The islands are sandwiched between high pressure to the north and a low pressure system associated with Dora, several hundred miles away, said Jeff Powell, a meteorologist in Honolulu. The differences in air pressure drove unusually strong trade winds that fanned the destructive flames.

The winds, strengthened by the hurricane, knocked out power lines and, moving downslope, contributed to the extreme spread of flames. Downslope winds are drivers of the highest impact fires, Neil Lareau, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Nevada, Reno, said on Twitter.

Downslope wind-driven fires have been responsible for 60% of structures lost and 52% of deaths in wildfires in the American west since 1999, according to a 2023 study.