Maui officials sound emergency sirens and evacuate residents as wildfire threatens north shore town

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HONOLULU (AP) — Officials on the Hawaiian island of Maui went door-to-door evacuating residents from a wildfire Tuesday and sounded emergency sirens.

The fire, which had grown to more than 100 acres (40 hectares), was first reported at 1:30 p.m. near the north shore town of Paia, officials said. There were no containment estimates immediately available. There was no immediate information on what caused the fire.

“Leave immediately!” said one alert from Maui Emergency Management Agency. “There is a dangerous threat to life and property.”

Paia is a former sugar plantation town that has become popular with windsurfers. It is on the other side of the island from Lahaina, which was destroyed by a deadly wildfire in 2023.

Maui County Councilwoman Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins said her family, including her 86-year-old grandmother, had to evacuate from Paia to stay with her.

“It’s terrifying,” she said. “We never have to learn the lessons of Lahaina twice; that’s never something we need to learn once again. But from my house I’m watching my hometown burn.”

Paia resident Rod Antone was trying to coordinate evacuation of his elderly parents.

“It's nerve-wracking,” he said. “Hopefully nothing happens to the neighborhood.”

Antone was working in a county building in Wailuku where he listened to radio updates but didn't hear the sirens. In the hours before the wildfire engulfed Lahaina in 2023, Maui County officials failed to activate sirens.

Antone noted that winds didn't feel particularly strong Tuesday, unlike in August 2023 when wind-whipped flames burned Lahaina and left 102 people dead. But like Lahaina, Paia is surrounded by dry brush, he said.

The Maui Fire Department was using two helicopters to help fight the blaze. During the Lahaina fire, helicopters were grounded due to the strong winds.

The American Red Cross was setting up evacuation sites, the county said.

When traffic out of Paia started building, Wayne Thibaudeau decided to open a gate to give motorists an alternate evacuation route. Thibaudeau is one of the owners of Paia Sugar Mill, which closed in 2000 and is being renovated.

The route takes motorists through old sugarcane fields.

There was a steady stream of “cars packed with people” using the route, he said.

A report on the Lahaina fire said that some back roads that could have provided an alternative escape were blocked by locked gates.