The disaster began when simultaneous wildfires began spreading erratically Tuesday, suddenly engulfing homes, forcing harrowing escapes and displacing thousands. The most destructive and deadly of the fires, the Lahaina wildfire, traveled at an extraordinary speed, the governor said in a video update Sunday afternoon.
"When the winds rose up - winds gusting as high as 81 mph - fires spread rapidly," Green said. "We believe between 60 mph and 81 mph across that part of the island, and that meant that fire traveled one mile every minute."
By Tuesday afternoon, winds associated with powerful Hurricane Dora, passing hundreds of miles south of Hawaii, were fanning the flames of wildfires and multiple evacuations were announced for the Lahaina and Upcountry Maui fires.
The flames jumped across highways and suddenly showed up in people's yards and homes. "It was a very fast-moving fire," US Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell said Saturday.
The fire was moving "low to the ground and structure to structure - incredibly fast that outpaced anything the firefighters could have done in the early hours," she added.
