Authorities warned that the death toll could rise, with the fires still burning and teams spreading out to search charred areas.
By AUDREY MCAVOY, JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER and NICK PERRY as blazes swept across the Hawaiian island, destroying parts of a centuries-old town and killing at least 36 people in the deadliest U.S. wildfire in recent years.
Lahaina residents Kamuela Kawaakoa and Iiulia Yasso described a harrowing escape under smoke-filled skies Tuesday afternoon. The couple and their 6-year-old son got back to their apartment after a quick dash to the supermarket for water, and only had time to grab a change of clothes and run as the bushes around them caught fire.
Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said the island had “been tested like never before in our lifetime.”“We are grieving with each other during this inconsolable time,” he said in a recorded statement. “In the days ahead, we will be stronger as a ‘kaiaulu,’ or community, as we rebuild with resilience and aloha.”
The Big Island is also currently seeing blazes, Mayor Mitch Roth said, although there had been no reports of injuries or destroyed homes there.
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