The Death Toll in the Maui Hawaii Wildfires Rises to 93, the Worst Since 1918

Fire in Maui, Hawaii. (Wikimedia Commons/US Coast Guard Hawaii'i Pacific District 14)

JAKARTA - The death toll from a wildfire in Maui, Hawaii, as of Sunday rose to 93 people, the worst since 1918 in the United States, while local authorities opened an investigation into the disaster warning system.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green on Sunday likened the blazing Hota Lahaina to a "war zone", after the fast-moving blaze ravaged Maui's northwest coast on Tuesday, leveling much of the historic resort town.

Days after the fire, firefighters were still battling the blaze, while sniffer dogs continued to search for victims among the charred ruins of the city.

"Right now, we are still in the throes of this acute phase of recovery, meaning we are still recovering from the tragic loss of life," Green told MSNBC on Sunday, reported by Reuters, August 14.

"The number is now 93 (victims)... This is a war zone, but the assistance has been extraordinary."

Green vowed again to investigate the response to the blazes and the emergency notification system, after some residents questioned whether more could have been done to warn them.

Several witnesses said they received minimal warning, describing the terror as the blaze destroyed the city around them in minutes.

Sirens stationed around the island, intended for natural disaster warnings, never sounded. Meanwhile, power outages and cellular network also hampered other alerts.

"We will soon know whether or not they did enough to activate the sirens," Green said.

The latest death toll makes the wildfires the worst natural disaster in Hawaii, surpassing the tsunami that killed 61 people in 1960, a year after Hawaii became a US State.

The death toll also exceeded that of the 2018 fire in Paradise City, California, in which 86 people died, and was the highest since 1918 US wildfires, when 453 people died in the Cloquet fires in Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to data from the National Fire Protection Association.