Hawaii's governor and mayor invited tourists back to the west side of Maui months after the Aug. 8 fire killed at least 100 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings.

Crews in Hawaii have all but finished searching for victims of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, authorities said on Tuesday, August 29, 2023, and it is unclear how many people perished.

Authorities in Hawaii pleaded with relatives of those missing after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century to come forward and give DNA samples, saying the low number provided so far threatens to hinder efforts to identify any remains discovered in the ashes.

Trying to find this many missing people presents huge challenges for officials who are trying to determine how many of those perished and how many may have made it to safety but haven't checked in.

As Hawaii residents mourned those killed in ferocious wildfires, officials warned that the full human and environmental toll was not yet known and the recovery only just beginning.

Fuelled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the fire started Tuesday and took the island by surprise, racing through parched growth and neighbourhoods in the historic town of Lahaina, a tourist destination that dates to the 1700s and is the biggest community on the island's west side.

Thousands of Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as blazes swept across the island, destroying parts of a centuries-old town and killing at least 36 people in one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires in recent years.

Honolulu Emergency Services Department spokesperson Shayne Enright told The Associated Press that the department has taken in burn patients from Maui but can’t confirm the number.

A U.S. judge this week ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the law when it failed to develop a plan to prevent West Coast commercial sablefish fishermen from harming humpback whales.

Hawaii's Kilauea began erupting inside its summit crater on Thursday, January 5, 2023, the U.S. Geological Survey said, less than one month after the volcano and its larger neighbor Mauna Loa stopped releasing lava.