On Tuesday, three separate wildfires hit the Hawaiian island of Maui. The fires spread on Tuesday and by the middle of the day Wednesday, it was out of control. The damage and devastation is completely unreal and as of early Thursday morning, authorities are reporting that at least 36 have been killed in the blazes.
According to multiple reports, the heat from the inferno and the speed at which it spread caused multiple people to attempt to escape into the ocean to avoid being killed by the flames.
Here are some unreal videos from the fire:
Maui ordered an evacuation yesterday, and since that time the evacuation order has been lifted and the fire is now somewhat under control. But not before buildings throughout the island were completely destroyed in the flames.
And then this aerial shot from a commercial plane is totally insane. The sound is on and you can tell NO one in that plane has any words to say. It's just shocking.
The New York Times, because it's a worthless rag, blames the fire on "climate change" with no evidence.
USA Today, on the other hand, has a more level-headed take and says not to blindly blame weather and climate change for the fires.
Wildfires have quadrupled in Hawaii in recent decades, and many scientists say the culprit is unmanaged, nonnative grasslands planted by plantations and ranchers and others unfamiliar with the island's native ecosystems. The grass is dry and prone to fires.
"There is no doubt that fire-prone grasses have invaded drier Hawaiian ecosystems and brought larger, more intense fires," said Peter Vitousek, a professor of earth sciences at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
Man-made climate change isn't nearly as likely a culprit as just human incompetence bringing in new fuel for these fires that didn't use to exist in the forms of non-native grass.
Officials still are not sure of the source of the fires and, remember, this is from three separate wildfires, however, the conditions were ripe for a disaster like this to happen due to dry conditions and a hurricane which came through and fueled the flames.
Whatever the cause, the results are deadly.
Pray for the people of Maui.
