2023-08-10 15:40:04
Forest fires ravaging the center of Lahaina, on the island of Maui, Hawaii, August 9, 2023. ALAN DICKAR / AP
In the middle of the night, flames and smoke ravage the historic capital, Lahaina, on the island of Maui, in the Hawaiian archipelago. A woman fled on foot, finding refuge in the Pacific Ocean, between rocks, a burning house and the harbor lighthouse. “We are there, but watch out for the debris”we hear on the video posted on TikTok, which has been viewed more than eleven million times. “My house is gone. So many people have lost their homes, grieves the author of the video, Carolina Arreguin, who launched a kitty on GoFundMe. My name is Carolina. I lost my house and my job within hours. The wildfires in Lahaina, Maui have spread so quickly. Almost everyone I know is homeless and unemployed. I hate asking for help, but anything will really make a difference. »
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More than a dozen people were rescued by the coast guard following fleeing by sea, but not all were so lucky: the three fires that ravaged this tourist island on Tuesday August 8 and Wednesday August 9 killed fifty-five people, according to the provisional toll established by the county of Maui, and forced the evacuation of more than 11,000 people.
Buildings destroyed by forest fires on the island of Maui, Hawaii, August 9, 2023. RICHARD OLSTEN / AFP
Thursday, the fires were officially under control, the alert for high winds lifted. However, sporadic fires persist, electricity is largely cut and the port is destroyed, as shown in a video filmed on Wednesday by helicopter and broadcast by the AP news agency. “It’s like a war zone. It’s all gone. Oh my God ! It’s incredible. It looks like Baghdad”says pilot Richard Olsten.
“No preparation, no warning, nothing”
Lahaina is the historic royal capital of Hawaii. The oldest building in this town of 12,000, the Baldwin House Museum, was occupied by 19th-century physician Dwight Baldwin, who saved Maui from a smallpox epidemic. Much of this heritage has gone up in smoke, as evidenced, for example, by a photograph of the burning historic church.
On another aerial photo, we can see, alone, a sprawling 150-year-old banyan tree, planted to commemorate the arrival of Christian missionaries in 1873, in the middle of a now devastated city. “We had no preparation, no warning, nothing”grieved over the New York Times Theo Morrison, executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, which preserves the site’s cultural heritage.
On the beachfront in Lahaina, on the island of Maui, Hawaii, August 9, 2023. MASON JARVI VIA REUTERS On the beachfront in Lahaina, on the island of Maui, Hawaii, August 10, 2023. PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP On the Lahaina waterfront, on the island of Maui, Hawaii, August 10, 2023. PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP
How did we get here ? The tropical archipelago, in the middle of the Pacific, was the victim of a double conjunction: first, a dry season with even less water than usual, even if this region of the archipelago was not in a catastrophic state – a “severe” level 2 drought, on a scale of 0 to 4 –; then, strong winds, caused by the category 4 hurricane Dora, which raged more than 1,000 kilometers to the south. These exceeded 100 kilometers per hour on Tuesday, stoking the fires.
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