The fire took the island by surprise, leaving behind burned-out cars on once busy streets and smoking piles of rubble where historic buildings had stood in Lahaina Town, which dates to the 1700s and has long been a favorite destination of tourists.
burned homes and forced thousands to evacuate. The Big Island is also currently seeing blazes, Mayor Mitch Roth said, although there had been no reports of injuries or destroyed homes there.
Search-and-rescue teams are fanning out in the devastated areas in the hopes of finding survivors, Adam Weintraub, communication director for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Tiare Lawrence was frantically trying to reach her siblings who live near where a gas station exploded in Lahaina.Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, from the Hawaii State Department of Defense, told reporters Wednesday night that officials were working to get communications restored, to distribute water, and possibly adding law enforcement personnel. He said National Guard helicopters had dropped 150,000 gallons of water on the Maui fires.
“Our prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses and communities destroyed," Biden said in a statement.
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