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I haven't had time to really look into the Hawaii wildfires, but the news reporting is really ramping up now and lots of videos of destruction. Caused by a dry summer and winds from a passing hurricane? Is this part of a large weather change as I have not heard of many wildfires in Hawaii in the past?
Dang, that's a lot of casualties. It's fairly uncommon to have so many deaths from a wildfire in the United States, usually they're able to protect towns from burning down, and even when they aren't they're usually able to evacuate them in time.
read Fire Weather by John Vaillant. Its about a terrible wildfire in Alberta and what it was like and how many acres covered and how fast it spread. Since its canada it also about the petroleum industry. the description of the fire is incredible.
In this case, 70-90 mph winds, along w/ drought conditions...sounds like the winds brought power lines down, and they ignited. It sounds like it moved incredibly fast through a populated area...so not a lot of warning...and coupled w/ not a lot of equipment to fight something like this.
You have a strong High parked north of the islands (responsible for the Trade Winds that keep the islands comfortable throughout the summer) and a Cat 4 hurricane moving south of them...strong pressure gradient equals strong winds.
Reading the stories of survivors is heartbreaking...I had 2 absolutely wonderful vacations to Kaanapali Beach just north of Lahaina and walked those beautiful streets many times...so sad to know it's been forever changed.
From what I understand fire was pretty rare in Hawaii before human settlement began about 1600 years ago. The human settlers then started to burn off forests to obtain wood and clear areas for settlements.
But fire really started to become more common with the arrival of Europeans/Americans and the development of Hawaii in the last 100 years as native plants which generally did not support fire started to be both supplemented and replaced by nonnative invasive plant species which could sustain large fires. One study showed a 500% increase in fire activity from the early 20th century to the late 20th century on the island of Hawaii.
I suspect that the combination of an unusual weather situation with an increasingly fire-prone vegetation system has led to the disaster. I don't know for a fact, but I also suspect that the wildfire fighting resources in Hawaii may not be on the same level as they're in the Western U.S. for instance, given that large fires would still be a relatively new phenomenon there.
The highest temperature ever recorded on the Hawaiian islands was 100 °F (38 °C) on April 27, 1931.
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