Residents of the resort island of Maui have already said that they did not receive an official warning, sirens did not sound, and the authorities were completely unprepared for the devastating wildfires.
The fire raging in Hawaii has already been called the worst fire in a hundred years. The official death toll from forest fires currently stands at 93 people. This is reported by CNN.
According to a study by the National Fire Protection Association, the Hawaii fire is the fifth deadliest in US history and the deadliest since the 1918 Cloquet fire in Minnesota.
But officials warn that the death toll will rise. «None of us know the extent of the fire yet,» said Maui Police Chief John Pelletier, noting that it will take time to identify the people who died in such an intense firestorm. So far, rescuers with dogs have searched only 3% of the territory.
Wildfires are raging on Maui
As a result of the fires on Maui, about 2,200 buildings were destroyed or damaged, and the damage is estimated at 6 billion dollars.
Firefighters have made some progress in extinguishing the three largest wildfires raging on Maui. The city of Lahaina, the former capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii and one of the largest cities on Maui, was the hardest hit. The fire there is still not under control.
The entire historic center of the city burned to the ground, people had to abandon their cars and escape from the fire in the ocean.
