Updated 10:41 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 23
Officials on Maui have lifted evacuation orders for residents living near a wildfire that broke out late Tuesday. Police went door-to-door evacuating residents and emergency sirens sounded before firefighters stopped the blaze's forward progress.
Emergency shelters were also closing late Tuesday as residents returned home.
Pāʻia Elementary School will be closed Wednesday. The school campus is without power at the request of the Maui Fire Department to assist in its response efforts.
The fire, which grew to about 300 acres, was first reported at 1:30 p.m. near the north shore town of Pāʻia, officials said. There was no containment estimate and no immediate information on what caused the fire.
Pāʻia is a former sugar plantation town that has become popular with windsurfers. It is on the other side of the island from Lahaina, which was destroyed by a deadly wildfire in 2023.
Before the situation improved, residents were fearful of another devastating blaze.
“Leave immediately!” said one alert from the Maui Emergency Management Agency. “There is a dangerous threat to life and property.”
Maui County Councilwoman Nohelani Uʻu-Hodgins said her family, including her 86-year-old grandmother, had to evacuate from Pāʻia to stay with her.
“It’s terrifying,” she said. “We never have to learn the lessons of Lahaina twice; that’s never something we need to learn once again. But from my house I’m watching my hometown burn.”
Pāʻia resident Rod Antone was trying to coordinate the evacuation of his elderly parents. “It's nerve-wracking,” he said. “Hopefully nothing happens to the neighborhood.”
Antone was working in a county building in Wailuku where he listened to radio updates but didn't hear the sirens. In the hours before a wildfire engulfed the town of Lahaina in 2023, Maui County officials failed to activate sirens.
Antone noted that winds didn't feel particularly strong Tuesday, unlike in August 2023 when wind-whipped flames burned Lahaina and left 102 people dead. But like Lahaina, Pāʻia is surrounded by dry brush, he said.
The Maui Fire Department was using two helicopters to help fight the blaze. During the Lahaina fire, helicopters were grounded due to the strong winds.
When traffic out of Pāʻia started building, Wayne Thibaudeau decided to open a gate to give motorists an alternate evacuation route. Thibaudeau is one of the owners of Pāʻia Sugar Mill, which closed in 2000 and is being renovated.
The route takes motorists through old sugarcane fields. There was a steady stream of “cars packed with people” using the route, he said.
Find the latest emergency information on the Maui County alert website.
