Mystery around cause of Hawaii wildfires as aerial shots reveal horrific damage

An investigation into what caused the wildfires in Hawaii is still underway as the death toll hits 55 with 1,000 people still missing.

The wildfires that broke out on the island of Maui on Tuesday are being called some of the worst in its history.

As of this morning, 55 people have been confirmed dead in the fires and 1,000 people remain missing.

While their impact has been horrifying, the cause of the fires is still unknown and an investigation is ongoing.

Entire neighbourhoods were destroyed by the wildfires including the historic town of Lahaina – the former capital of Hawaii – which has been all but wiped out.

The wildfire is already the state’s deadliest natural disaster since a 1960 tsunami, which killed 61 people on the Big Island.

The recent wildfires are believed to be some of the worst in Hawaii’s history (Picture: Getty)

What might have caused the fires?

Extreme hurricane winds and dry weather certainly helped to fuel the flames.

Hurricane Dora swept passed Hawaii on Tuesday and definitely would have fanned the flames further.

The island of Maui and other parts of Hawaii are also experiencing extremely dry conditions and drought, which would have contributed.

Around 80 per cent of Hawaii is classed as abnormally dry and about 14 per cent of the state is in severe or moderate drought.

The cause of the wildfires remains under investigation (Picture: Getty)

Wildfires tend to need three elements to break out and spread – biomass such as trees or vegetation as fuel, a spark and then weather like high winds to drive flames.

Scientists say 90 percent of Hawaii is getting less rainfall that it got 100 years ago – and it has been particularly dry since 2008.

And Maui was already under a red flag alert before the fires started, meaning its warm temperatures, strong winds and low humidity were known to be producing an increased risk of fires.

Residents of Maui have lost so much in the fires, with many forced to flee (Picture: REUTERS)

Just last month bush fires in Hawaii saw the brief closure of a highway, which the National Weather Service said demonstrates ‘the risk of fires during this year’s dry season is elevated’.

Also, some areas of the Hawaiian islands are covered in non-native grasses that are more prone to catching fire than native grasses.

This, combined with the dry conditions, could have caused a spark to start the fire, which then spread because of the high winds.

What happened when the wildfires started?

Maui residents who desperately tried to escape, some on foot, asked why Hawaii’s famous emergency warning system didn’t alert them as fires raced toward their homes.

Hawaii boasts what the state describes as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world, with about 400 sirens positioned across the island chain.

Over 1,000 people are still missing as of 11 August (Picture: Governor Josh Green, M.D)

But many of Lahaina’s survivors said in interviews at evacuation centres that they didn’t hear any sirens and only realised they were in danger when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby.

Maui’s firefighting efforts may also have been hampered by a small staff, said Bobby Lee, the president of the Hawaii Firefighters Association.

There are a maximum of 65 firefighters working at any given time in Maui County, and they are responsible for fighting fires on three islands — Maui, Molokai and Lanai — he said.

While the cause of the fire isn’t known, Hawaii has been experiencing drought and very dry conditions as well as high winds (Picture: AP)

Those crews have about 13 fire engines and two ladder trucks, but they are all designed for on-road use. The department does not have any off-road vehicles, he said.

More: Trending

That means fire crews can’t attack brush fires thoroughly before they reach roads or populated areas, Lee said. The high winds caused by Hurricane Dora made that extremely difficult, he said.

‘You’re basically dealing with trying to fight a blowtorch,’ Lee said. ‘You’ve got to be careful — you don’t want to get caught downwind from that, because you’re going to get run over in a wind-driven fire of that magnitude.’

Maui Fire Department Chief Brad Ventura said the fire moved so quickly from brush to neighbourhood that it was impossible to get communications to emergency management agencies responsible for getting warnings out.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

A total of 55 people are dead and 1,000 are missing.