At least 36 deaths have been linked to wildfires that tore through the Hawaiian island of Maui, county officials said late on Wednesday night.

At least three wildfires began raging on Maui on Tuesday, with some so intense that at least a dozen people escaped by jumping into the Pacific Ocean, where they were later rescued by the US Coast Guard. The fires, which had been largely contained as of Wednesday night, burned much of the town of Lahaina, which was once Hawaii’s royal capital.

“With lives lost and properties decimated, we are grieving with each other during this inconsolable time,” said Maui’s mayor, Richard Bissen, in a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday night, adding that the past few days had tested residents like never before.

Emergency workers continued to seek survivors early on Thursday among the smoky ruins of Lahaina, a historic Hawaiian tourist town on the island of Maui, where the fast-burning wildfire was fuelled in part by winds from a distant hurricane.

The fire, one of the nation’s deadliest in decades, forced officials on Maui to evacuate 11,000 tourists, the lifeblood of the local economy. Firefighters continued to battle flare-ups into Thursday morning.

Officials have strongly discouraged people from travelling to Maui while the crisis continues. Another 1,500 tourists were expected to leave on Thursday, with buses ferrying visitors to the island’s Kahului Airport.

The fires have been largely contained, but were still generating smoke and ash, officials said. The island opened two additional evacuation shelters on Wednesday night. Thirty US Army service members arrived on Maui on Wednesday night to conduct search-and-recovery efforts on Thursday morning, Maui County officials said.

Electricity was out and phone service was down in parts of Maui, including Lahaina. About 11,000 customers across Hawaii were without power early Thursday, according to poweroutage.us, which compiles data from utilities.

The damage on the islands is widespread, and recovery will likely take years, said lieutenant governor Sylvia Luke.

The wildfires on Maui may also have long-term impacts on a tourism industry that plays an outsize role in the island’s economy.

Local officials have asked visitors making nonessential trips to Maui to leave, and have strongly discouraged others from making such trips while the island is in crisis mode.

Tourism was the largest single source of private capital for Hawaii’s economy in 2019, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. That year the 10.4 million visitors who travelled to the state spent nearly $18 billion, the industry body said.

New York Times News Service