https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/08/09/coast-guard-joins-brush-fire-response-lahaina-where-crews-continue-battle-wind-whipped-flames/

We were just there in Old Town Lahaina last summer.

Sky view of #Lahaina #Maui #Fire #PrayforMaui 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/CFc1wdJLdC

— Badwahine♑️🔥🐬 (@Maui_anne) August 9, 2023

Terrible news.

Lahaina is a cool place. We're booked for Kaanapali next summer.

It's terrible

BREAKING: Popular 'Front Street' is on fire in Lahaina on the island of Maui, Hawaii, where, authorities said, people jumped into the water to escape flames and smoke from a wind-fueled wildfire. pic.twitter.com/vPRXufhbHc

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) August 9, 2023

Praying for the folks in Lahaina and upcountry for safety and some rain. We're set to have the second half of our honeymoon in November in Wailea so I'm praying this does not worsen. Lots of businesses and homes lost in Lahaina it sounds which is terrible.

dayum.

Reading more about it - pretty much most of everything along Front Street seems to be gone. All of those shops, tons of structures and housing. The historic 1873 Banyan tree. Seems to be a few possible deaths already reported as well.

This is Front Street, Lahaina on Maui, a popular tourist destination, currently suffering from effects of the fires. #Hawaii #maui #MauiFires

pic.twitter.com/NqkGiywrgI

— Johnny (@tallyman2023) August 9, 2023

30-70 miles winds fueling the fires from hurricane Nora that's a couple hundred miles off the coast.

Really crazy. I'm sure we will have units that don't make it.

I'm supposed to be there in 17 days, 5mi north of Main St.

Waiting to hear if the place has burned down.

https://t.co/bJ8h2nDs84 pic.twitter.com/uYZCfpwcBD

— Robin APRN CHPN (@maui_nurtures) August 9, 2023

Just got a message from a friend and she's saying most of Lahaina is gone. Her family's house, their extended family, their work places, their grandfathers old buildings, everything is gone. So sad.

Where at? We own through Westin Nanea and are there every couple of years. As of now Kaanapali beach is all fine. The resorts are all shelter in place. A few of the neighborhoods to the east have started to evacuate, but the wind is out of the north, so any spread will be slow in the direction of Kaanapali Beach.

This entire thing is just devastating. Maui is a special place to our family. Lots of incredible memories and moments. No official reports on Old Lahaina Town, but the rumors dont sound good, and that is a terrible thing. Such a wonderful town, with incredible people.

Awful. Fire must have been horrendous to jump the new highway on the north side.

All those historic buildings, the Banyan Tree, damn.

Disturbing video of people fleeing in a car with fire all around them.

aggiedata said:

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Disturbing video of people fleeing in a car with fire all around them.

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Yeah you can scroll through Twitter if you just use Lahaina as your search term. Lots of sad images/videos.

This video was shot near 708 Main Street looking north. https://t.co/XoG2OuiGkP pic.twitter.com/GsQ9SxJqLx

— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) August 9, 2023

🇺🇲🔥 | Apocalyptic scenes in #Hawaii • A forest #fire has already destroyed a large part of the historic area of the community of #Lahaina, on the island of #Maui, and continues to intensify due to the winds of Hurricane #Dora.#MauiFires pic.twitter.com/M6WUzzJsI9

— ALERTAS RD 🇩🇴 Y EL 🗺️ (@Alertas_RD) August 9, 2023

#USA #Hawaii 🙏 #Maui #MauiFires #Lahaina

Maui on fire https://t.co/u2KBTP3CP7#Heaetbreaking #mauinews @TheMauiNewsHI pic.twitter.com/n1ZzIpByoh

— 🚶🏻Curtis S. Chin (@CurtisSChin) August 9, 2023

This is Lahaina from the sky. We got on a flight tonight to Honolulu because we couldn’t get back to Kaanapali from Kahului. This is so devastating and beyond fathomable. There are three other fires on Maui. Please pray for Maui!. #maui #lahaina pic.twitter.com/eMmawP2fAD

— Jaime Greene (@thesolarqueen) August 9, 2023

Widespread devastation.

Sky view of #Lahaina #Maui #Fire #PrayforMaui 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/CFc1wdJLdC

— Badwahine♑️🔥🐬 (@Maui_anne) August 9, 2023

Old Town is gone. From friends there, it's all gone.

That is awful stuff

Just devastating.

You can track fires around the world from a NASA satelite:

https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/usfs/map/#d:24hrs;@-155.1,26.1,4z

Damn, our first kid was made after a night out on front street

That is the Banyan Tree right in the middle of this one.




credit:
https://www.facebook.com/richard.olsten

Breaking: pictures purportedly of Lahaina fire devastation on Maui posted by Richard Olsten on Facebook, who says he is director of operations at a Maui helicopter tour companyhttps://t.co/zOcifUaTpV pic.twitter.com/OWsOgb5tZM

— Steve Lookner (@lookner) August 9, 2023

Here is front street. Nothing is left

Front Street Lahaina from the ground. Everything is gone #lahainafire pic.twitter.com/zzEkbvPa31

— Nohead (@nohea_d) August 9, 2023

Seems like the tree might've survived

Before & after from Lahaina, Maui #mauifire #Lahaina pic.twitter.com/cAX1hNhklC

— ∼Marietta (@MariettaDaviz) August 9, 2023

Wish I got to see it one more time.

We're scheduled to go to Maui in three weeks for our honeymoon staying in Kapalua and Wailea, although we had plans to spend a day in Lahaina. We received restaurant reservation cancellations from two different spots in Kapalua today which was mildly surprising.

Planning to wait a day or two to call our hotels to get an update once things have settled down and they know more.

This is just terrible to see. I had plans for a trip back there on my list for the next few years. Nothing is left from what I can see.

Was just there a month ago. Wonderful place. Absolutely devastating.

The island is going to need our tourist dollars now more than ever. The sheer loss of homes, businesses and lives is going to devastate the local economy. Many people are going to be cancelling vacations. Lahaina held a large number of restaurants (many that filled up reservations 6+ months out) and shops frequented by tourists. There is not a chance the insurance is going to cover the cost to rebuild most of those folk's homes, and thousands of locals will have no place to live. So many of those businesses were decades old and wont be able to cover the costs to re-open. Dive shops will have lost their full inventory of rental equipment and boats. The main harbor for sightseeing trips is gone. The full impact of this is going to stretch on for many many years.

One thing that I think will hopefully be a big help is that there is a lot of rich celebs tied into that island and that area like Steve Tyler, Mick Fleetwood and Oprah. Hopefully they do a lot to raise funds to help out.

One of the first things my wife and I talked about. All of those celebs say they love that island, this will show how much they truly do.

Oprah, Owen Wilson, Steven Tyler, Woody Harrelson, Mick Fleetwood (owned a great place on Front Street), and Willy Nelson are the ones that immediately come to mind for me. I would expect Mick definitely chips in, especially with Fleetwoods gone.

The heartbreaking part to me is the lost history and the impact to the Hawaiian culture. Lahaina was the original seat of the Hawaiian kingdom. The oldest houses in all of Maui were in Lahaina. The fort, the library, the courthouse, the prison, Jodo Mission are all gone. The buildings were all from the old whaling days and earlier. All of that important culture and history is just gone and those things cant be replaced.

flomoAG said:

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The island is going to need our tourist dollars now more than ever. The sheer loss of homes, businesses and lives is going to devastate the local economy. Many people are going to be cancelling vacations. Lahaina held a large number of restaurants (many that filled up reservations 6+ months out) and shops frequented by tourists. There is not a chance the insurance is going to cover the cost to rebuild most of those folk's homes, and thousands of locals will have no place to live. So many of those businesses were decades old and wont be able to cover the costs to re-open. Dive shops will have lost their full inventory of rental equipment and boats. The main harbor for sightseeing trips is gone. The full impact of this is going to stretch on for many many years.

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Yeah, I dealt with the same situation going back to Cozumel after Wilma and the Cayman Islands after Ivan. There is a fine line between going back in too soon and getting in the way of their recovery efforts, and going back later and depriving them of the tourist money they need to recover. Unfortunately, they will not be in any position to entertain guests in the Lahaina area for probably at least a year or more.

Not even close. Its going to take a long time. I cant even imagine the planning and efforts that are going to need to go into the rebuild.