Strong winds from nearby Hurricane Dora is creating wildfire havoc on Maui. Terrible, we have visited the island maybe a dozen times on vacation.

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Hospitals in Maui have become overwhelmed with patients as the wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced evacuations on two of Hawaii's islands.

Multiple people are feared dead and countless are fearing for their lives after the 'apocalyptic' blazes set fire to the island paradise yesterday.

The fires, fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora, have burned structures, forced evacuations and caused power outages in several communities.

The worst of the fires is on Maui. One is torching parts of northern Wailea where tourist hotels like the Four Seasons and Hilton scatter the beach, and another has destroyed the town of Lahaina.

Videos and photos in the link:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...-traffic-exodus.html

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Videos and photos in the link:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...-traffic-exodus.html

There are several small fires on the Big Island and O'Ahu but the worst is being seen in Maui, where some 12,000 people are without power and hospitals are overwhelmed

And it's not just Maui, that's some pretty apocalyptic stuff right there.

That is some epic shit. And it's crazy because there's no way they have the resouces on site to deal with that in Lahaina and Wailea. For those that don't know Maui is basically a small county in terms of resources and a fairly big city in terms of population due to tourists. Maui is about 170,000 for residents with about the same or more with tourists depending on how the tourist population is counted (daily vs. weekly vs. monthly). AND because of the winds no real way to get them help from the other islands. They are in for a harrowing few days for sure.

Wow, I had no idea. I'll guess they don't have the resources to battle wild fires on that scale. I never would have considered it given the climate and location.

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Originally posted by Rightwire:
Wow, I had no idea. I'll guess they don't have the resources to battle wild fires on that scale. I never would have considered it given the climate and location.

It's a rare combination of events (low humidity and super strong winds) that's making it super bad now. And with the lack of resouces for this very rare event on the ground its going to be even worse, and add to that the fact that Oahu and Hawaii are dealing with this too making them unable really to send help.

Tragic!

We have a member out there...P210 I think? I hope he and his family are okay.

We got married on Maui, Iao Valley ceremony, stayed in the Kaanapali Alii condos just outside of Lahaina, that is terrible!

Damn! I know we have a few members on Maui. I hope they are all safe and not impacted by this.

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Originally posted by Rightwire:
Wow, I had no idea. I'll guess they don't have the resources to battle wild fires on that scale. I never would have considered it given the climate and location.

Civil services in Hawaii in-general is pretty sparse, they're resource challenged, then add-in that getting assets from other states is immensely costly and nearly impossible. The big fires that would flare-up here in CA, we'd have crews from all over the West driving in with their rigs and gear, that's not able to happen in HI.

As for climate, the further you get from the mountains, the drier it gets....dramatically. Easy example is visiting Diamond Head on Oahu, sitting along the coast, far away from the main mountain rage and high above the water, the surrounding area is incredibly dry, to the point where cactus plants are growing not jungle-type vegetation. Lots of signs reminding visitors to drink fluids and beware of dehydration/heat exhaustion. Being an isolated land mass surrounded by vast distances of water, the wind is a constant, the velocity depends on what's pushing it. Water-heavy clouds get blown across the ocean, get compressed against the mountains, release their moisture and then get blown away with the tradewinds.

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Originally posted by Rightwire:
Wow, I had no idea. I'll guess they don't have the resources to battle wild fires on that scale. I never would have considered it given the climate and location.

^^^^^^^^^^^
I found that out after we experienced a hurricane that hit Oahu. We were on vacation and I can tell you the citizens and government were totally unprepared.

My daughter and her family (husband and my 3 granddaughters) were right in that town last week! Got home Friday. Way too close for comfort.

Tragic. Paradise on fire. I wonder how the banyan in Lahaina is doing. That’s one very old tree.

I heard all of Front Street in Lahaina, both sides of the street are gone, along with many boats in the harbor. Also the Banyon Trees area is a goner.

The overhead shots remind me of the devistation that happened to Santa Rosa in 2017 and Paradise in 2019, a path of destruction and cinder remaining

I heard about this first from my sister this morning.
We used to live on Maui, in Wailuku Heights, while I was working at Kaiser and Maui Memorial Hospital.
When we lived there, the sugar cane operation by HC&S was still going strong. They had a large firefighting operation with big equipment, because they routinely burned the sugar cane fields after harvest. When Maui had a big fire, the county firefighters were assisted by the HC&S firefighters. That's all gone now; the former cane fields are now brown instead of green.

The loss of Front Street in old Lahaina is a terrible tragedy; it was a major tourist attraction, and Maui still depends on tourism for its economy. I doubt they can rebuild it, at least for many years if ever.

Getting out of Lahaina there is only one road, it goes out both north and south of town, but the northern loop is a single-lane part of the way. Even on normal days, traffic is terrible between Lahaina and central Maui. Last night, people were caught for three hours in their cars, feeling the heat of the fire. Fortunately it appears that there was not a repeat of the ghastly situation in Paradise, CA a few years ago when people were burned alive in their cars.

Kihei residents were evacuated but have been told they can return home now.

Our hearts go out to all those in Maui who have suffered through this; and we're especially sad that the unique and historic harbor and waterfront of Lahaina have been destroyed.

Maui was just recovering from the pandemic when the tourism economy crashed with the lockdowns. It also suffers from a leftist coalition government which is opposed to tourism and ignorant of proper local government. While we were there Maui was still run by a Republican mayor and some conservative county council members; now it's pretty much all leftist.

Very sad to hear about Lahaina. Spent several great vacations there with my family. Wife has several pieces of nice jewelry from those shops.

My wife just took the grand kids back to their home in Makawao. They are under a fire warning until 6PM tonight. Two houses have burnt down fairly close to the daughters house. I think those homes are higher on the mountain than my daughter. I'm more than a bit worried is a bit of an understatement.

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Originally posted by sjtill:
Getting out of Lahaina there is only one road, it goes out both north and south of town, but the northern loop is a single-lane part of the way. Even on normal days, traffic is terrible between Lahaina and central Maui. Last night, people were caught for three hours in their cars, feeling the heat of the fire.

First thing I thought was two routes out of town and both slow as hell. Not a good thing. Seems like the only fast way to safety was the beach of the Pacific ocean. Scary and sad as hell.

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Originally posted by oddball:
I heard all of Front Street in Lahaina, both sides of the street are gone, along with many boats in the harbor. Also the Banyon Trees area is a goner.

Oh no. What a loss that tree was a treasure for the history it lived through.

Halloween on Front in Lahaina....good times.