Death toll from Maui wildfire reaches 89, making it the deadliest in the US in more than 100 years
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Lahaina (Hawaii), August 13
A fire that swept through a picturesque town in Maui this week has killed at least 89 people, authorities said Saturday, making it the deadliest US wildfire of the past century.
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The newly released figure surpassed the toll of the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California, which left 85 dead.
A century earlier, the 1918 Cloquet Fire broke out in drought-stricken northern Minnesota and raced through a number of rural communities, destroying thousands of homes and killing hundreds.
At least two other fires have been burning in Maui, with no fatalities reported thus far: in south Maui’s Kihei area and in the mountainous, inland communities known as Upcountry.
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A fourth broke out Friday evening in Kaanapali, a coastal community in West Maui north of Lahaina, but crews were able to extinguish it, authorities said.
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