Residents prepare to return to ruined homes seven weeks after Lahaina wildfire

The hall of historic Waiola Church burning in Lahaina during the August 8 fire (Matthew Thayer/The Maui News/AP)

The first residents and property owners are being allowed to return to their devastated homes in the Hawaiian town of Lahaina, seven weeks after it was engulfed by wildfires.

The deadliest US wildfire in more than a century saw people race into the sea to escape the flames as the former capital of the once-Hawaiian kingdom burned.