One tourist returning from Hawaii told the BBC's US partner CBS News she bit her nails and prayed as fires burned around her.

"We were very sad for the people who live there and have to live through this, but grateful we can come home," Kim Prior, from Sacramento, California, said.

But for residents, the reality of the fires is devastating.

Maui resident, Alan Dickar, told CBS News the fires razed an important economic district, Front Street.

"Maui can't handle this... a lot of people just lost their jobs because a lot of businesses burned. A lot of people lost their homes... this is going to be devastating for Maui," he said.

He videoed the flames as they engulfed the main street before fleeing with his friends and cats.

Simon King
BBC weather presenter and meteorologist

The weather has been very dry in Hawaii recently with isolated wildfires breaking out.

However, it was the passage of a seemingly benign "fish hurricane" in the eastern Pacific which escalated the situation.

Fish hurricane is a term meteorologists use to describe storms that are in open oceans that don’t have any direct impact on humans.

One of those is Hurricane Dora which currently in the eastern Pacific.

As a result of Dora passing 700 miles to the south of Hawaii and a large area of high pressure to the north of the islands, there was a squeeze in the wind pattern in the middle.

This squeeze gave gusts of wind up to 65mph (100km/h) earlier this week which fanned the wildfires.

The winds are now easing through Thursday and Friday as Hurricane Dora continues to move away to the west.

A couple from Colorado in the US who were honeymooning on Maui were forced ask for a place to stay on X (formerly Twitter) after their hotel was affected by the Lahaina fire.

University basketball coach Zach Ruebesam posted, external on the platform on Wednesday morning asking: “Anyone on Twitter have a connection for a place to stay on Maui?”

Later that day, Reubesam posted an update, external that the couple had arrived on the Hawaiian island of Kauai after a “stressful 12 hours”.

He thanked everyone that reached out, and added: “Hallie and I were able to get on a flight to Kauai this afternoon and get accommodations for the remainder of our Honeymoon.

"We don’t have any of our clothes but we have each other and that’s all that matters!”

Image source, Getty Images

The current time in Hawaii - just after 2am - means those residents who can are likely to be sleeping, so let's look back at what officials were saying a few hours ago about the blazes.

• Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen told reporters that the wildfires broke out amid "long term-dry conditions", and that the island of Maui is still in the "battling the fire part" of its operation
• He also said authorities hadn't "anticipated having this many fires simultaneously" and were forced to draw resources from a number of places as a result
• Another official, Hawaii's Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke, recognised the rescue efforts. "That's what makes Hawaii really special", she said about everyone trying to help
• But she warned that the full extent of the damage could take "weeks or maybe months" to understand

When we hear the latest from officials and authorities, we'll let you know.

Image source, Reuters

“We got out in the nick of time,” Lahaina resident Keʻeaumoku Kapu has told the Associated Press news agency.

Kapu ran a cultural centre in the historic town centre and was tying down objects against the strong winds on Tuesday when his wife arrived around 4pm and said they needed to leave.

Then "things got crazy", he told AP on Wednesday, as the wind began picking up.

Smoke and fire was visible two blocks away as he and his wife jumped into their pickup truck to leave. “By the time we turned around, our building was on fire. It was that quick," he told the AP.

They drove to Maalaea on the island’s southern coast, where they spent the night in their truck.

Kapu did however get a rare bit of good news - he was told that his home had been spared, and he is anxious for the roads to reopen so he can see it for himself.

Image source, Reuters

Drone and helicopter footage shows neighbourhoods burnt to the ground, after fast-moving wildfires tore through the Hawaiian island of Maui.

The deaths in the city of Lahaina, the island's main tourist destination, came as strong winds from a distant hurricane fanned the flames.

Thousands of people have been forced to evacuate their homes and a state of emergency has been declared.

Image source, Reuters

Former US President Barack Obama - who was born in Hawaii - has posted on the X social network (formerly known as Twitter): "It’s tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawai’i — a place that’s so special to so many of us.

"Michelle and I are thinking of everyone who has lost a loved one, or whose life has been turned upside down."

Daniel Sullivan is a photographer living in Lahaina on Maui.

Speaking to the BBC's World Service, he said they had "three different fires surrounding the house. I have gone 48 hours without any sleep. Last night I was on my rooftop watching the flames".

Sam Spangler, a reporter for KHON2 News in Hawaii, took a helicopter flight - chartered by his TV station - over the town of Lahaina yesterday.

“I could see from the helicopter that many homes in the town were completely flattened. We estimate around 270 structures were destroyed or damaged. It looks like a bomb went off.”

Image source, AIR MAUI HELICOPTERS/Reuters

Buses will resume mass evacuations of visitors from West Maui to Kahului Airport on Thursday morning, the County of Maui said in a statement.

It urged evacuees to meet at the Whalers Village entryway from 08:30 local time.

At the same time, Southwest Airlines says it will increase the number of flights to Hawaii "to keep people and supplies moving".

Image source, Getty Images

Maui has faced the brunt of the wildfires in Hawaii, where the flames have all but razed Lahaina - a popular tourist town that was Hawaii's former capital. At least 36 people have died and thousands have been forced from their homes.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

Image source, Clint Hansen of Maui Real Estate Radio via TMX/Reuters

Hawaii generally refers to the Hawaiian archipelago of eight volcanic islands and smaller islets in the northern Pacific Ocean.

The US state of Hawaii comprises nearly the entire archipelago.

Hawaii is located more than 2,000 miles (3,200km) from the US mainland and a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu takes around 5.5 hours.

Image source, Reuters

Fires broke out on Tuesday on the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Big Island (also called Hawaii island), with the historic town of Lahaina - on Maui - thought to be one of the worst-hit areas.

Here's what we know:

• It's not yet clear what caused the fires but Maj Gen Kenneth S Hara, who is leading the emergency response, said the high winds from Hurricane Dora and dry brush on the ground created perfect conditions for the blazes to spread
• The fires on Maui are particularly bad, with at least 36 people already known to have died and thousands of acres of land scorched

• More than 270 buildings have been damaged or destroyed in Lahaina, officials said yesterday, but figures are yet to be released for other affected regions
• On Big Island, a mandatory evacuation order was lifted last night and two evacuation shelters closed, suggesting the situation is less severe there

Sam Hancock
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

Hello, we're restarting our coverage of the wildfires in the US state of Hawaii - where the situation, particularly on the island of Maui, has grown increasingly worse.

Officials say at least 36 people have died, with the flames still being fanned by strong winds from a distant hurricane.

You join us hours after thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes and a state of emergency was declared. Some residents were reported to have escaped one of the blazes by jumping into the sea near the town of Lahaina, on Maui.

The local time in Hawaii is coming up to 01:00 and one of our US-based colleagues is heading there as we speak. Until he arrives, and the Hawaiian news cycle picks up, our teams in London and DC will bring you the latest as well as getting in to what we know has happened.