People fleeing flames jump into ocean as Maui wildfires burn down a Hawaiian town

As catastrophic wildfires spread across the Hawaiian island of Maui, 911 and cell phone services are down, roughly 14,000 homes and businesses are without power, and hospitals are overwhelmed with burn and smoke-inhalation victims. Home to about 117,000 people, Maui residents and tourists remain stranded on the island, with some trying to escape the fire and smoke by jumping into the ocean — resulting in 12 Coast Guard rescues, as reported by CNN. The downtown area of Lahaina, a small town with a population of 13,000 people, was mostly destroyed.

Evacuation orders are in place and about 1,800 travelers are sheltering at the Kahului Airport. At least six people have died. Additional Hawaiian National Guardsmen are expected to join Maui officials late Wednesday to assist in managing the crisis. Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke (Gov. Josh Green is currently out of state) declared a state of emergency and called the crisis “unprecedented” on Wednesday and described the difficulty of coordinating evacuations.

“What we are trying to do is deploy individuals to go into areas with satellite phone service. We have only been in contact with perhaps one hotel because the one hotel, the people in charge of that hotel have satellite phones,” Luke told CNN. “The reality is that we need to fly people out of Maui to give them burn support because Maui hospital cannot do extensive burn treatment.”

Graphic, harrowing videos of the wildfires have surfaced on social media sites, posted by those who managed to receive intermittent cell signal — some show victims laying motionless in the street as captured by passengers of vehicles that navigate through seemingly impassible smoke and flame, others show people fleeing into treacherous waters full of flaming debris. 

Erratic winds up to 60 mph and high-pressure conditions created by Dora — a powerful Category 4 hurricane some 800 miles southwest — have coupled with decreased humidity on the island to aggravate wildfire conditions. Dora is expected to move far enough westward by Thursday to allow winds to subside and wildfire conditions to be reduced.