Lahaina - 'The town is gone and we're all homeless'

Witnesses have described the horror of the Maui wildfires that have killed at least 36 people and appeared to have burned much of Lahaina - the Hawaiian kingdom's original seat of power and home to King Kamehameha's palace - to the ground.

- Edward Helmore, Abené Clayton

Survivors spoke of a scene of devastation in Lahaina, a historic tourist spot, and recounted close calls as the flames reduced part of the town to ruins and took the lives of at least three dozen of their neighbours.

Richard Olsten, a helicopter pilot for a tour company, flew over the fire site on Wednesday and said Lahaina "looked like a bomb went off".

"It's horrifying. I've flown here 52 years and I've never seen anything come close to that. We had tears in our eyes, the other pilots on board and the mechanics and me," he said, recalling even the boats in the harbour were burned. "We never thought we'd experience anything like this in our whole life."

Dean Rickard, co-coach of the Lahainaluna high school football team, told the Star-Advertiser: "Lahaina Town and whole neighbourhoods went up in flames and is unrecognisable ... it looks more like a war zone."

"This fire was devastating and way worst than the 2018 fire. I had to evacuate my home and not sure if it's still standing," he said, adding that the homes of his parents, brother, son and daughter had been destroyed.

"It's a fricken' nightmare, but just fortunate the man above kept our ohana [family] together and that we all made it out safely. Mahalo for your thoughts and prayers."