A Maui County firefighter fights flare-up fires in a canyon in Kula on Maui island, Hawaii, US, August 13, 2023. (Photo: REUTERS)

Days after the inferno destroyed much of the historic resort town of Lahaina on Tuesday and Wednesday, crews of firefighters were still battling flare-ups, and cadaver dogs were sifting through the town’s charred ruins in search of victims.

The death toll made the blaze Hawaii’s worst natural disaster, surpassing a tsunami that killed 61 people in 1960, a year after Hawaii became a US state. 

Hawaii Governor Josh Green again vowed to investigate the response to the blaze and the emergency notification systems. Some witnesses said they had little warning, describing their terror as the blaze destroyed the town around them in what seemed to be a matter of minutes. Others dove into the Pacific Ocean to escape. 

Sirens stationed around the island, intended to warn of impending natural disasters, never sounded, and widespread power and cellular outages hampered other forms of alerts.