The 2023 Hawaii wildfires were a series of wildfires that broke out in early August 2023 in the U.S. state of Hawaii, predominantly on the island of Maui. The wind-driven fires prompted evacuations and caused widespread damage, killing at least 102 people and leaving two people missing in the town of Lahaina on Maui's northwest coast. The proliferation of the wildfires was attributed to dry, gusty conditions created by a strong high-pressure area north of Hawaii and Hurricane Dora to the south.
An emergency declaration was signed on August 8, authorizing several actions, including activation of the Hawaii National Guard, appropriate actions by the director of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency and the Administrator of Emergency Management, and the expenditure of state general revenue funds for relief of conditions created by the fires. By August 9, the state government of Hawaii issued a state of emergency for the entirety of the state. On August 10, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a federal major disaster declaration.
For the Lahaina fire alone, the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimated that over 2,200 buildings had been destroyed, overwhelmingly residential and including many historic landmarks in Lahaina. The damage caused by the fire has been estimated at nearly $6 billion. In September 2023, the United States Department of Commerce published the official damage total of the wildfires as $5.5 billion (2023 USD).
Background Wildfire risk The typical area burned by wildfires in Hawaii has increased in recent decades, almost quadrupling. Experts have blamed the increase on the spread of nonnative vegetation and hotter, drier weather due to climate change.
During the 2010s and early 2020s, Clay Trauernicht, a botanist and fire scientist at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and several other experts warned that the decline of agriculture in Hawaii meant that large areas of formerly productive land were left unmanaged; nonnative invasive species like guinea grass were spreading rapidly and increasing the risk of large wildfires. The state government failed to provide incentives or impose mandates to keep land clear of grass or require all structure owners to maintain defensible space, a standard rule in fire-prone states like California.California Public Resources Code Section 4291); . The shrinking of the agricultural workforce reduced overall firefighting capacity; those workers had traditionally suppressed fires on the land they cared for, and were so effective that sometimes the counties called them for help. In 2022, Trauernicht suggested that Hawaii follow Europe's example by subsidizing agriculture as a public good as a form of fire risk reduction. In 2023, UH Manoa biogeography professor Camilo Mora estimated the cost of land restoration to mitigate wildfire risk at about $1 billion. Despite these calls to action, the Hawaii State Legislature was unable to make much progress; a 2022 bill to spend just $1.5 million on additional fire risk reduction measures died in a legislative committee.
Around the time the fires occurred, twenty percent of the county of Maui was experiencing moderate drought (level 1 of 4), and sixteen percent was under severe drought conditions (level 2 of 4). A decrease in rainfall consistent with the predicted impacts of climate change had also been recorded in the Hawaiian Islands, according to the U.S. National Climate Assessment. In the decades leading up to the fire, overdevelopment practices led to further water management challenges that reduced the availability of water for firefighting and exacerbated drought conditions.
In June 2014, the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, a nonprofit organization, prepared a Western Maui Community Wildfire Protection Plan which warned that most of the Lahaina area was at extremely high risk for burning. All times are from the infographic included in the cited article.
In Maui County's 2020 Hazard Mitigation Plan, the county identified Lahaina, the most heavily impacted community in the August fires, as lying within a high risk zone for wildfire.
In its monthly seasonal outlook on August 1, 2023, the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) forecast "above normal" potential for significant wildland fires for Hawaii in August, concentrated on the islands' leeward sides. In addition to noting plentiful vegetation growth from the previous wet season and the expanding drought, the NIFC mentioned that "tropical cyclones can also bring windy and dry conditions depending on how they approach the island chain and can exacerbate fire growth potential".
Long term assessments gravely underestimated the vulnerability of the islands to deadly wildfires. A year prior, the State of Hawaii Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan Report detailed wildfire risks as one of the lowest threats for the state. A 2021 Maui County assessment acknowledged the spike of wildfires in the state, but described funds as "inadequate" and heavily criticized the county fire department's strategic plan, claiming it said "nothing about what can and should be done to prevent fires".
Weather factors
In early August 2023, a high-pressure system remained north of the Hawaiian Islands. This formed strong surface pressure north of the islands, and also sustained stabilization across the region, creating warm and sunny conditions. Concurrently, Hurricane Dora began to intensify to Category 4 strength, which helped create a large pressure difference between the high-pressure area and the low-pressure cyclone. This pressure difference aided in already significant trade winds moving southwest, and formed strong gradient winds over the islands. (A similar phenomenon occurred during the October 2017 Portugal wildfires during the passage of Hurricane Ophelia.) The exact significance of Hurricane Dora and how it impacted the fires remains somewhat unclear. Meteorologists noted that the storm's center remained more than from the islands and relatively small in size; however it also remained "remarkably potent for a long time", logging more hours as a Category 4 hurricane than any other storm in the Pacific for over 50 years. Philippe Papin, a hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center, argued that Hurricane Dora played only a minor role in "enhancing low-level flow over Maui at fire initiation time."
By August 6, the National Weather Service identified a region of very dry air arriving from the East Pacific, greatly inhibiting the potential for rainfall. A prominent descending capping inversion forced even more stabilization of the atmosphere, which led to enhanced wind gusts and very dry conditions between August 7 and 8. As the day progressed, deep layer ridging combined with the existing pressure gradient created very strong wind gusts and caused humidity levels to be well below normal. The aforementioned cap was expected to only strengthen acceleration of wind due to terrain features near the islands.
List of wildfires
NameCountyAcresStart dateEnd date RefsOlindaMaui1,081Upcountry Maui Is Entering The Next Phase Of Fire Recovery. But Anxiety Persists Honolulu Civil Beat9/25 Maui Wildfire Disaster Update); mauicounty.gov. Maui County.KulaMaui2029/14 Maui Wildfire Disaster Update); mauicounty.gov. Maui County.LahainaMaui2,1709/03 Maui Wildfire Disaster Update); mauicounty.gov. Maui County.9/02 Maui Wildfire Disaster Update); mauicounty.gov. Maui County.PulehuMaui3,268
Timeline During the first few days of August, a multitude of minor brush fires affected the Hawaiian Islands. Multiple brush fires burned on the island of Oʻahu, stretching fire department resources, but were quickly contained by August 4. The island's south and west sides remained abnormally dry or in drought because of the fire, as well as weather conditions.
At 5:00 a.m. HST (UTC 15:00) on August 7, the National Weather Service's office in Honolulu issued a red flag warning for the leeward portions of all the islands until the morning of August 9, highlighting that "very dry fuels combined with strong and gusty easterly winds and low humidities will produce critical fire weather conditions through Tuesday night". East winds of with gusts over were forecast. In Maui County, officials reported gusts up to in the Upcountry Maui area.
Maui
On August 4, 2023, at 11:01 a.m. HST (UTC 21:01), the first of many small fires ignited on Maui. A 30-acre brush fire was reported adjacent to the Kahului Airport in a field. By 9:29 p.m. HST (UTC 07:29), the fire was reported 90% contained,Landing operations at Kahului Airport back to normal after brush fire); Hawaii News NowFlights landing at Maui's airport while MFD fights nearby fire); KHON-TV but many flights out of the airport were delayed to August 11.
On August 8, 2023, intense winds knocked down numerous utility poles. By 4:55 p.m. HST (UTC 02:55), "about 30 downed poles" had been reported on Maui, resulting in "at least 15 separate outages impacting more than 12,400 customers". By that time, there had been no power in some parts of West Maui since 4:50 a.m. HST (UTC 14:50).
Kula The first significant fire of the event was reported at 12:22 a.m. HST (UTC 10:30) on August 8 near Olinda Road in the community of Kula, in Upcountry Maui. Evacuations of nearby residents were announced beginning at 3:43 a.m. (UTC 13:43). As of August 9, the fire had burned approximately . Approximately 544 structures were exposed, 96% of which were residential, and 16 burned. Concurrent electrical grid sensor data and security camera footage reported by The Washington Post indicate that a downed power line, hit by a tree, may have caused this fire.
Lahaina
The most significant fire of the complex of events began from a brush fire ignited in West Maui near the town of Lahaina on the morning of August 8. During the early morning of August 8, significant straight-line winds began to impact the town of Lahaina. Peak wind gusts that exceeded caused minor damage to homes and buildings in Lahaina, and subsequently, a power pole was snapped along Lahainaluna Road, across the street from the Lahaina Intermediate School near the northeast side of town.
A brush fire was reported at 6:37 a.m. HST (UTC 16:37) as the downed power line sparked flames to dry grass near the road. Evacuations were ordered minutes later in the areas around Lahaina Intermediate School. Maui County Fire Department immediately responded, and by 9:00 a.m HST (UTC 19:00), the fire was announced fully contained.
As wind gusts continued to batter the town, the fire was thought to have been extinguished. By 3:30 p.m. HST (UTC 01:30), the fire had flared up again, and forced the closure of Lahaina Bypass (Route 3000), with more evacuations nearby following. Residents on the west side of town received instructions to shelter in place.
The wildfire rapidly grew in both size and intensity. Wind gusts pushed the flames through the northeastern region of the community, which held dense neighborhoods. Hundreds of homes burned in minutes, and residents identifying the danger attempted to flee in vehicles while surrounded by flames. As time progressed, the fire moved southwest and downslope towards the Pacific coast and Kahoma neighborhood. Firefighters were repeatedly stymied in their attempts to defend structures by failing water pressure in fire hydrants; as the melting pipes in burning homes leaked, the network lost pressure despite the presence of working backup generators.