Max Matza
Reporting from Maui

I'm at a shelter on the island of Maui.

I just spoke to a man listening to the radio.

He says he doesn't want to listen to the governor's news conference because he's trying to take his mind off things.

"I found two bodies floating against my sea wall" on Front Street in Lahaina, he says.

I ask if he's personally lost anyone to the fires and he says "there's a few people I havent heard from".

Image source, BBC News

Hundreds of homes have been destroyed and Governor Green says the thousands of people displaced are going to need housing.

They are initially seeking 2,000 rooms to accommodate them, and will reach out to hotels. But Green also called for anyone with spare rooms across the island of Maui to open up their homes.

"If you have additional space in your home, if you have the capacity to house somebody... please consider bringing those people into your lives," Green said.

Image source, Facebook/County of Maui

Governor Green calls the wildfires likely the "largest natural disaster in Hawaii state history".

He says that "the number [of deaths] has been rising and we will continue to see loss of life".

He says many hundreds of homes have been destroyed.

“That’s going to take a great deal of time to recover from. But… we will prevail,” Green says.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green and Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen are speaking. We'll bring you updates as we have them.

In a few minutes, officials in Hawaii will be providing an update on the wildfires in Maui. It's currently 15:30 local time.

We are expecting to learn the latest death toll figure, as well as more about the ongoing search and rescue efforts in and around the town of Lahaina.

Follow along as we bring you the latest.

Image source, Getty Images

In a video posted to his Facebook page, external, Hawaii Governor Josh Green stands in front of buildings reduced to rubble from the wildfire that swept through Lahaina.

"It's extraordinary," he says. "It is tragically gone," adding that it is possible more than 1,000 buildings have been destroyed.

Green adds that he believes the death toll will rise.

We will be hearing from him and other officials shortly as they provide the latest updates on the wildfires and their aftermath.

Image source, NASA

A satellite image released by Nasa shows the scale of the wildfires on Maui.

The image, shot in infrared, was taken at 22:25 local time on Tuesday, August 8 using a camera designed to monitor surface temperatures on Earth.

On the left of the picture, a fire can be seen spanning much of the coast that includes the town of Lahaina. A second large fire can also be seen near the town of Kihei.

The Coast Guard said that a total of 17 people have been saved from the water off the coastal town of Lahaina.

The speed with which the fire moved through the town caught many residents off-guard and forced some to jump into the Pacific Ocean to escape the blaze.

Earlier we spoke to Tee Dang, who was in the water with her three children for nearly four hours as the fire raged.

A statement, external from the Coast Guard added that another 40 survivors had been located on the shore and brought to safety by boat crews.

It said search efforts have included 13 aircraft covering 689 sq nautical miles (2360 sq km) and been assisted by five helicopters sent by the Department of Defense.

The death toll from the fire in Lahaina has risen to 53, local officials have said.

A statement, external from the County of Maui said 17 additional fatalities had been confirmed as of midday on Thursday local time, adding to the earlier tally of 36.

It said that the fire remains active.

Image source, Getty Images

California – a state more often hit by wildfires than Hawaii – is sending search and rescue teams to help recovery efforts, its governor, Gavin Newsom, has announced.

“We stand with the people of Maui and all Hawaiians amid these horrific wildfires that have claimed lives and destroyed the historic town of Lahaina," he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Californians know firsthand the devastating toll of catastrophic wildfires fuelled by climate change, capable of wiping out entire communities and centuries of irreplaceable history and heritage.”

The Lahaina fire is the deadliest in the US since the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California which killed 85 people and destroyed most of the town of Paradise.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green also gives an assessment of the scale of the damage. He tells CNN:

• More than 2,000 people spent last night in shelters
• 11,000 people are still without power in west Maui
• As many as 1,700 buildings have been destroyed by the fire

"By the time this disaster is all described, you can be sure that dozens of people will have lost their lives and billions of dollars of property will be destroyed," the governor says.

More now from Hawaii Governor Josh Green. Sadly, he says the death toll, currently 36, will rise.

“We do know that more people have perished,” he tells CNN. “That number is going to go up very significantly, and so our hearts go out to all the families.

“We haven’t had a loss of life incident like this for many years… You’ll see the numbers go in the 40s today at the least.”

The governor also mentions a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people and said the death toll from the fires is likely to be higher than that.

Speaking via satellite phone with CNN just now, Hawaii Governor Josh Green says: "There is no doubt that everyone would describe this as though a bomb has hit Lahaina."

He says things are "smouldering still" adding: "It looks to me that 80% of Lahaina is gone."

Image source, Getty Images

Hawaii is the birthplace of surfing, and Maui is home to one of the most legendary big waves on the planet - Jaws.

This disaster has hit the close-knit surfing community hard.

Many professional surfers have been giving updates on their social media accounts, including 11-time World Champion Kelly Slater.

"My heart goes out to everyone on Maui. Utter devastation from the brushfires and hurricane winds. I can't even imagine what they're going through," Slater shared on Instagram, external.

"Friends have already said they've lost everything. Hoping for a miracle to help... and save what remains for everyone."

Slater also shared screen shots of text messages from a Maui friend who lost his business, only escaping the flames with his dog in his backpack and a pair of shorts.

Max Matza
Reporting from Maui

Kansas mother-of-three Tee Dang jumped into the Lahaina harbour with her children and husband on Tuesday to flee the flames which tore through the town.

Sitting in traffic in downtown Lahaina, they watched from their rental car as others started to jump in - including a woman who she said appeared to be in her 80s.

But when the vehicles around them began catching fire they decided to grab their food, water, and phones and run for the waves.

With their children - ages five, 13 and 20 - they at first stayed close to shore while the fire razed the town to the ground.

As evening approached and the tide crept in, the water started smashing her into the rock wall of the harbour, severely cutting Dang's leg.

That was when a line of "about 50 cars" on Front Street in Lahaina started exploding, Dang said, forcing them to move into deeper water to seek shelter from the “shooting debris”.

Eventually, a firefighter gathered them from the water and directed them to run through the flames. Her entire family suffered burns from the flames and are now waiting for a flight off the island.

Image source, Reuters

It is just past 11:00 in the morning local time in Hawaii. Here's a quick recap of what we know so far:

• President Joe Biden has declared the wildfires in Hawaii a "major disaster" triggering the release of federal funds to help recovery efforts
• At least 36 people are known to have died, but that death toll may rise
• Thousands of others have been forced to leave their homes
• Aerial photos show widespread devastation with thousands of Maui residents struggling with power outages
• The National Weather Service said the flames were fanned by Hurricane Dora, which passed Hawaii at a distance but brought with it gusts of above 60 mph (97km/h)
• Maui airport has been turned into an unofficial emergency shelter with an estimated 11,000 people being flown out to other Hawaiian islands or the US mainland

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Read more here.

Max Matza
Reporting from Maui

Image source, Getty Images

The Kahului airport is functioning as an unofficial emergency shelter, as hundreds of travellers wait to hear updates about their flights off Maui.

Throughout the airport terminal people are on their phones, vividly describing the fires, smoke and damage that they witnessed.

Some 11,000 people have already been flown out of Maui, either to the US mainland or other Hawaiian islands.

But many more remain behind, camped out all over the airport - including on the belt of a machine normally used for screening luggage.

Despite the disruptions and crowds, the airport is still fully operational, officials say.

Image source, US ARMY NATIONAL GUARD

A Pentagon spokesman confirmed that the US Coast Guard rescued 14 people who had taken shelter from the fire in the ocean.

US Department of Defense spokesman Patrick Ryder said in a news conference that 134 National Guard troops have been activated to fight the fire and deliver aid.

More aid and troops will be devoted to the effort in the coming days, President Biden promised earlier.

Hawaii has a number of military bases due to its strategic location in the Pacific Ocean.

“Every asset we have will be available” to people affected by the fires, the president said earlier.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US reporter

Every year, more than two million people visit the fire-stricken town of Lahaina - about 80% of all Maui tourism.

Many come to the town attracted by Lahaina's rich heritage, which spans the entirety of Hawaii's history.

Lahaina - which in Hawaiian means "cruel sun", a reference to the area's hot, dry climate - has long been culturally and politically significant, with a history stretching back to long before the arrival of Europeans to Hawaii in 1778.

Until the fire swept through the town, remnants of Lahaina's history were everywhere, ranging from an old fort to a sailor's jail from the 1800s and a 150-year-old banyan tree, believed to the the largest in the United States.

Experts fear that many of these sites may be lost forever.

"We take care of 14 different sites, and all of them are heavily damaged, if not completely destroyed," Theo Morrison, the executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, told the BBC.

Read more about Lahaina's cultural heritage and the fate of its historic sites here.