Hawaii gov says '1,000-degree' fire tornados tore through buildings

Hawaii governor says terrifying ‘1,000-degree’ fire tornados tore through the city’s buildings – as it’s revealed the island warning sirens DID NOT go off

• The blazes on the island of Maui have now become the deadliest wildfires in modern US history – killing 93 people
•  Hawaii Gov. Josh Green described the wildfire as a ‘fire hurricane’ – blowing 80mph winds and reaching temperatures of up to ‘1,000-degree heat’

Hawaii’s governor has said that the terrifying fire tornados that tore though the island’s buildings were ‘1,000 degrees’ – as it’s revealed warning sirens did not go off.

The blazes on the island of Maui have now become the deadliest wildfires in modern US history – killing 93 people – and authorities are still working to identify the victims.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green described the wildfire as a ‘fire hurricane’ – blowing 80mph winds and reaching temperatures of up to ‘1,000-degree heat.’

Meanwhile, Hawaii Emergency Services Administration said Friday: ‘Neither Maui nor HI-EMA activated warning sirens on Maui during the wildfire incident.’ 

Green told MSNBC on Sunday that the weather front, pushed on by Hurricane Dora, created fire cyclones that were able to go through buildings.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green described the wildfire as a ‘fire hurricane’ – blowing 80mph winds and reaching temperatures of up to ‘1,000-degree heat’

The blazes on the island of Maui have now become the deadliest wildfires in modern US history – killing 93 people – and authorities are still working to identify the victims

He called the area a war zone, adding: ‘Everything is burnt to the ground in Lahaina.

‘When fire jumped from one spot to another – there were three or four fires going on at the same time – it got seeded very quickly with those 80 mph gusted winds.

‘And then the fire moved at essentially a mile per minute, 60 mph down through the community. 

‘That’s what a fire hurricane is going to look like in the era of global warming.’ 

The siren system in Maui is ‘used to alert the public to seek additional information; they do not necessarily indicate an evacuation.’ 

Instead, locals were forced to use alerts sent to mobile devices, local radio and television stations to get information during the inferno. 

The siren system in Maui is ‘used to alert the public to seek additional information; they do not necessarily indicate an evacuation’

Hawaii Emergency Services Administration said Friday: ‘Neither Maui nor HI-EMA activated warning sirens on Maui during the wildfire incident’

The scrutiny comes amid locals saying that they did not get enough warning time to act in the face of the natural disaster. 

Lisa Panis told NBCNews: ‘They didn’t give us no warning. No nothing. No siren, no alarms, no nothing.’  

New footage has also emerged of people who had jumped into the Pacific Ocean in an effort to escape the flames as the fires swept the island last week. 

Those from the town of Lahaina are seen being thrown around the choppy waters as thick smoke and embers surround them.

Resident of the historic town Joan Hayashi told Fox 11 that those in the water had to wait for eight hours to be rescued.

Hayashi said: ‘It sounded like a giant blow torch, we had to run in the ocean. We’re in the ocean probably like eight hours. Flames were hitting, things were falling from the palm tree.’

Despite rescuers pulling some locals to safety, unfortunately not everyone who jumped in to escape the flames made it out alive.

Federal emergency workers are now tasked with picking through the ashen moonscape left by the fire that razed the centuries-old town of Lahaina.

Teams have been marking homes with a bright orange X to record an initial search, and contacting HR when they discover human remains.

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said that crews with cadaver dogs had covered just 3 percent of the search area, with the death toll expected to rise again.

Pelletier said identifying the dead is extremely challenging because ‘we pick up the remains and they fall apart’

Pelletier said: ‘When we find our family and our friends, the remains that we’re finding is through a fire that melted metal.’

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