Maui officials lift evacuations, close shelters after wildfire threat to north shore town recedes

HONOLULU (AP) — Officials on the Hawaiian island of Maui have lifted evacuation orders for residents living near a wildfire that broke out late Tuesday. Police went door-to-door evacuating residents and emergency sirens sounded before firefighters stopped the blaze’s forward progress.

Emergency shelters were also closing late Tuesday as residents returned home.

The fire, which grew to about 300 acres (40 hectares), was first reported at 1:30 p.m. near the north shore town of Paia, officials said. There was no containment estimate and no immediate information on what caused the fire.

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.

Before the situation improved, residents were fearful of another devastating blaze.

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.

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.