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Wildfires on Hawaii’s island of Maui have killed at least 55 people and destroyed a historic town, officials said. The number of deaths is expected to rise even higher. Officials said it will take years to rebuild Lahaina, the one-time capital of the former kingdom of Hawaii. Governor Josh Green said the fire was the worst natural disaster in the state's history, making thousands of people homeless and burning as many as 1,000 buildings. In 1960, a tsunami killed 61 people in the state. "It's going to take many years to rebuild Lahaina," Green said at a Thursday news conference.

官员称，夏威夷毛伊岛的野火已造成至少 55 人死亡，并摧毁了一座历史城镇。预计死亡人数还会进一步上升。官员们表示，重建前夏威夷王国的首都拉海纳需要数年时间。州长乔什·格林表示，这场火灾是该州历史上最严重的自然灾害，导致数千人无家可归，并烧毁了多达 1000 栋建筑物。1960年，一场海啸导致该州61人死亡。“重建拉海纳需要很多年的时间，”格林在周四的新闻发布会上说。

Lahaina was once the home of King Kamehameha, who united Hawaii under a single kingdom. Kings and queens are buried on the grounds of the 200-year-old stone Waiola Church, one of burned sites. Lahaina draws 2 million visitors each year, or about 80 percent of the island's visitors. Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, at least three wildfires burned on Maui this week. Maui Fire Department Chief Brad Ventura said one fire moved so fast that it was impossible to warn people of the emergency. “What we experienced was such a fast-moving fire ... they were basically self-evacuating with fairly little notice,” Ventura told the Associated Press.

拉海纳曾经是卡美哈美哈国王的故乡，他将夏威夷统一为一个王国。国王和王后埋葬在拥有 200 年历史的怀奥拉石砌教堂内，该教堂是被烧毁的遗址之一。 拉海纳每年吸引 200 万游客，约占全岛游客的 80%。 由于夏季干燥和飓风过后的强风，毛伊岛本周至少发生了三场野火。 毛伊岛消防局局长布拉德·文图拉 (Brad Ventura) 表示，一场火灾蔓延速度如此之快，以至于无法向人们发出紧急情况警告。文图拉告诉美联社：“我们经历的是一场如此快速蔓延的大火……他们基本上是在几乎没有注意到的情况下自行撤离。”

Thousands of visitors and locals were evacuated from the western side of Maui, which has a year-round population of about 166,000. Locals sheltered on the island or the neighboring island of Oahu. And visitors gathered in Kahului Airport, waiting for flights back home. Some people fled the immediate danger by jumping into the Pacific Ocean. Among them was Vixay Phonxaylinkham, a visitor from Fresno, California. He said his family was trapped in a car as the fires neared, forcing the family to jump in the water. They held onto pieces of wood to stay above water. "We floated around for four hours," the man told Reuters from an emergency shelter. "It was a vacation that turned into a nightmare. I heard explosions everywhere, I heard screaming, and some people didn’t make it. I feel so sad," he said.

毛伊岛西侧常年人口约 16.6 万，数千名游客和当地人被疏散。当地人在该岛或邻近的欧胡岛避难。游客们聚集在卡胡卢伊机场，等待回国的航班。有些人为了逃离眼前的危险而跳入太平洋。其中包括来自加利福尼亚州弗雷斯诺的游客 Vixay Phonxaylinkham。他说，随着火势逼近，他的家人被困在车里，迫使他们跳入水中。他们抓住木块以保持在水面上。 “我们漂浮了四个小时，”该男子在紧急避难所告诉路透社。 “这是一个变成噩梦的假期。我到处都听到爆炸声，听到尖叫声，有些人没能活下来。我感到很难过，”他说。

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