Death toll in Maui wildfires rises to 93

(Patria) - The death toll from the fires in Maui reached 93 on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Hawaii Governor Josh Green compared the burnt town of Lahaina to a "war zone" after a fast-moving wildfire swept across Maui's northwestern coast on Tuesday, leveling much of the historic resort town and burning nearly everything in its path.

Days later, fire crews were still battling flare-ups and cadaver dogs were searching charred ruins for bodies.

"We are still in the acute phase of this recovery, meaning we are still recovering from the tragic loss of life," Green told MSNBC.

"We are now at 93 (victims) ... it's a war zone, but the help is incredible," he added.

Green has vowed to investigate the response to the fire and emergency alert systems after some residents questioned whether more could have been done to warn them. Some witnesses said they had little warning, describing how the fire destroyed the town around them in minutes. Others waded into the Pacific Ocean to escape.

The death toll made the fire Hawaii's deadliest natural disaster, surpassing a tsunami that killed 61 people in 1960, a year after Hawaii became a U.S. state.

The death toll also surpassed that of a 2018 fire in the town of Paradise, California, which killed 86 people, and was the deadliest U.S. wildfire since 1918, when 453 people died in the Cloquet fire in Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to the National Fire Protection Association.