The fire that would ultimately destroy the town of Lahaina, Hawaii, had been knocked down by crews and surged back to life while firefighters were rehabbing, according to a report.
The Wall Street Journal offered an account of the fire’s timeline provided by Aina Kohler, one of two firefighters who were on the scene that day.
A team of five members were reportedly monitoring the seemingly dead brush fire on August 8, 2023, approximately a mile from the downtown waterfront. At 2:18 p.m., after watching the scene for a rekindle for seven hours, the firefighters were ordered to repair to a nearby fire station.
Less than 40 minutes after the members departed, a fire was burning at the site again.
According to the most recent count by officials, at least 97 people were killed in the Maui County fire, with 31 still reported missing. The Lahaina fire is the deadliest fire in the U.S. in more than an hundred years, the Associated Press reported, with most of the historic town reduced to ash.
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