Authorities confirmed that at least 96 people died.
A Mercy Worldwide volunteer assesses the damage of a charred apartment complex in the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina, western Maui, Hawaii, on Aug. 12, 2023. | Yuki Iwamura/AFP/Getty ImagesThe smoke was starting to blot out the sun. Winds were howling, and heat bore down as flames licked the trees on the horizon. The power had been out all day, so Mike Cicchino thought he’d drive to the hardware store for a generator.
Authorities confirmed that at least 96 people died — already the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than 100 years — and they expect that number to rise. A few blocks away, Kehau Kaauwai said the wind was so intense it tore the roof from her neighbor’s home. It felt like tornado after tornado was slicing down her street.Within moments, she said, the smoke that had been blocks away suddenly engulfed them. It darkened from gray to black, day seemed to turn to night.
“I could feel the heat burning in my back. I could pretty much feel the hair is burning off the back of my neck,” said Wyland, who owns an art gallery on the street. “The cars sounded like bombs going off,” Donnie Roxx said. “It was dark, it was 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and it looked like midnight.”
She left her apartment near Front Street around 4:30. About a mile away, Lana Vierra’s boyfriend stopped by her home and said he’d seen the fire raging toward them. Downtown’s historic wooden buildings were burning. The splintering lumber broke apart and flew through the wind, still flaming.
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