Forest Fire Victims In Hawaii Maui Increase To 53 People

Efforts to extinguish the fire in Maui by a waterlifting helicopter belonging to the Hawaii Army National Guard. (Wikimedia Commons/Master Sigt. Andrew Jackson)

JAKARTA - A forest fire in Maui has killed at least 53 people, turning the resort city of Lahaina into a burning ruins that took years and billions of dollars to rebuild, Hawaiian officials said.

Thousands of people will need housing soon, Hawaii Governor Josh Green told a news conference, estimating as many as 1,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

"It took years to rebuild Lahaina," Green said.

"We need to accommodate thousands of people," Green continued, as officials began drafting plans to accommodate new homeless people in hotels and tourist rental properties.

A fast-moving fire made Maui Island careless, after at least three major fires broke out on Tuesday, cutting off the west side of the island.

Thousands of tourists tried to leave Maui, many of them camping at the airport waiting for flights.

More people suffered burns, breathed smoke and other injuries. Search and rescue efforts continue, and thousands of people have fled to emergency shelters or fled the island.

Vixay Phonxaylinkham, a tourist from mines, California, said she was stuck in Front Street Lahaina in a rental car with her wife and children as the fire approached, forcing the family to leave the car and jump into the Pacific Ocean.

"We were floating for about four hours," Phonxaylinkham said from the airport pending a flight from the island, explaining how they were holding on to pieces of wood to float.

"It was a vacation that turned into a nightmare. I heard explosions everywhere, I heard screams, and some people didn't work. I felt very sad," he explained.

Meanwhile, Maui County announced the death toll increased by 17 people, bringing it to 53 as of Thursday.

It is known that so far the fire was the worst disaster that hit Hawaii since 1960, one year after becoming the state of the United States, when the tsunami killed 61 people.

Meanwhile, the fate of some of Lahaina's cultural wealth is still unclear. A historic 60-foot (18 meter) banyan tree marking the place where the 19th-century palace of the King of Hawaii Kamehameha III stood still standing, although some of its branches looked charred, according to a Reuters witness.

In Washington, US President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for Hawaii, which allows affected individuals and business owners to apply for federal housing and economic recovery grants.

The cause of the Maui forest fires has not been determined, officials said, but the National Weather Service said dry vegetation, strong winds, and low humidity triggered the fire.

A forest fire occurs every year in Hawaii, according to Thomas Smith, a professor of environmental geography at the London School of Economics and Political Science, but this year's fires are faster and bigger than usual.