Irish family have 'white-knuckle drive' to escape 'red glow in the distance' of Hawaii wildfires

The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission engulfed in flames. Picture: Matthew Thayer/The Maui News via AP

An Irish family has told of their rush to avoid the catastrophic fires on the Hawaiian island of Maui this week.

The wildfires in the historic town of Lahaina has killed at least 55 people and Hawaii Governor Josh Green said that number is likely to rise.

Fuelled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the fire started on Tuesday and took Maui by surprise, racing through parched growth covering the island and then feasting on homes and anything else that lay in its path.

Tourists were advised to stay away, and about 11,000 flew out of Maui on Wednesday with at least 1,500 more expected to leave on Thursday, according to Ed Sniffen, state transportation director.

Declan Kelly and his family arrived in Maui last Saturday to stay at a resort in Kihei on the south shore of the island. 

He said that the family had thought of staying in Lahaina, which is on the west coast of the island and at the centre of the current emergency.

“We actually went to Lahaina on Monday [to visit], not realising it would be razed to the ground less than 24 hours later.” 

Speaking on Newstalk, Mr Kelly said there had been no talk about the fires when they visited Lahaina, which he described as a beautiful area full of craft shops and galleries and lovely old buildings on the waterfront.

The resort where they were staying was only 20 miles from Lahaina and when the family went out for a meal on Tuesday night they noticed the smell of smoke.

Wildfire wreckage in Lahaina, Hawaii. Picture: AP/Rick Bowmer

“We turned on the news, we started looking at social media and realised there was a fire. We didn't know anything about the extent of it. You could see a red glow in the distance.” 

An alert message from the US government came through on one of the phones of the group. They realised then that there were three fires, one of which was just two-and-a-half miles south of them. 

Given its proximity they decided to go north to get closer to the airport which was not affected. Mr Kelly acknowledged that he had been concerned that most of the roads on the island were two lanes which meant if they “clogged up” there would be nowhere to go.

The drive to the airport had been a “white-knuckle drive” with him holding on tightly to the steering wheel of the rental car. 

“I was unnaturally calm. I just knew I had a job to do and I needed to keep going.” 

Since then the family received the all-clear to return to their accommodation. While the fires were not totally extinguished, they appeared to be under control to a large extent, he said.

“We waited a while and we made a decision to go back, we'd left stuff behind us as well. We went back down the road and it was clear, and our area seems to be stable.” 

Mr Kelly said they are continuing with their holiday plans to visit other islands.

Maui residents who escaped the wildfires have asked why Hawaii’s emergency sirens did not alert them as the flames raced toward their homes.

Hawaii emergency management records show no indication that the warning system was triggered before a devastating wildfire wiped out the historic town of Lahaina, officials confirmed.