Hawaii Tribune-Herald

The Laupahoehoe Boat Ramp will receive its long-awaited funding for repairs, according to Hawaii County Parks and Recreation Director Maurice Messina.

LAHAINA, Maui — A raging wildfire that swept through a picturesque town on Maui this week has killed at least 89 people, authorities said Saturday, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire of the past century.

WAILUKU, Maui — In the hours before a wildfire engulfed the town of Lahaina, Maui County officials failed to activate sirens that would have warned the entire population of the approaching flames and instead relied on a series of sometimes confusing social media posts that reached a much smaller audience.

WAILUKU, Maui — Leshia Wright heard the crackle of the fast-moving inferno closing in on her home in Lahaina and decided it was time to evacuate.

LAHAINA, Hawaii — The death toll in Maui rose to 67 on Friday as officials confirmed another 12 fatalities from a massive blaze that turned large swaths of a centuries-old town into a hellscape of ashen rubble.

Melissa Crick was heartbroken this week while watching videos on her phone of people fleeing from a fast-moving wildfire in Hawaii.

UPDATE: 3:16 p.m.

For generations, the banyan tree along Lahaina town’s historic Front Street served as a gathering place, its leafy branches unfurling majestically to give shade from the Hawaiian sun. By most accounts, the sprawling tree was the heart of the oceanside community — towering more than 60 feet and anchored by multiple trunks that span nearly an acre.

A task force set up by Mayor Mitch Roth to kokua Maui in its recovery from the destructive fires that swept through Lahaina and other areas of Valley Isle held its inaugural meeting Thursday afternoon.

When disaster hits the islands, residents of the state come together to offer assistance to their collective ohana impacted.

Hawaii went from lush to bone dry and thus more fire-prone in a matter of just a few weeks — a key factor in a dangerous mix of conditions appear to have combined to make the wildfires blazing a path of destruction in Hawaii particularly damaging.

UPDATE: 2:30 p.m.