As wildfires tear through the Hawaiian island of Maui, residents of Northern California's Paradise are reliving their own harrowing experience with a similar conflagration.
Residents of Lahaina were allowed back home Friday for the first time since wildfires killed at least 55 people.
The fire that tore across the coastal Maui town claimed 55 lives — a toll expected to climb — and burned more than 1,000 buildings.
A dangerous mix of conditions converged to make the wildfires blazing a path of destruction in Hawaii particularly damaging. Here’s a look at the devastating fires, and what’s behind them.
A flyover of historic Lahaina showed entire neighborhoods that had been a vibrant vision of color and island life now reduced to gray ash.
Ring by ring, majestic banyan tree in heart of fire-scorched Lahaina chronicles 150 years of history
For generations, the banyan tree along Lahaina town’s historic Front Street was the heart of the oceanside community. Like the town itself, its very survival is now in question.
"All the places that are tourist areas, that are Hawaiian history, are gone, and that can't be replaced," a tour operator said.
Wildfires driven by winds from a distant hurricane have devastated the resort city of Lahaina on Hawaii's Maui island.