<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">At least six people have been killed in a wildfire that has razed a Hawaiian town, officials said Wednesday, with desperate residents jumping into the ocean in a bid to escape the fast-moving flames.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">US Coast Guard officers plucked at least a dozen people from the water as emergency services were overwhelmed by a disaster that appeared to have erupted almost without warning.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I'm sad to report that just before coming on this, it was confirmed we've had six fatalities," Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen told a press conference.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We are still in a search and rescue mode and so I don't know what will happen to that number."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke issued an emergency proclamation and told CNN the hospital system on the island of Maui "was overburdened with burn patients, people suffering from inhalation."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"911 is down. Cell service is down. Phone service is down," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lahaina, a tourist town of 12,000 on the northwestern tip of Maui, lay in ruins, said Governor Josh Green.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Much of Lahaina on Maui has been destroyed and hundreds of local families have been displaced," said Green.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Video posted on social media showed blazes tearing through the heart of the beachfront town and sending up huge plumes of black smoke.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"People are jumping into the water to avoid the fire," US Army Major General Kenneth Hara, the state adjutant general, told Hawaii News Now.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Coast Guard said it had "successfully rescued 12 individuals from the waters off Lahaina" and it was sending other vessels to Maui.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hara said the strong winds had prevented helicopters from being used to carry out rescues or fight the fires.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lahaina resident Claire Kent said she had seen her neighborhood burned less than an hour after she fled.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The flames had moved all the way down to the end of the neighborhood," she told CNN.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We were pulling out... onto the highway, you look back and there's cars with flames on both sides of the road, people stuck in traffic trying to get out," Kent said, describing the dangerous scene as "something out of a horror movie.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I know for a fact people didn't get out," she said, adding that homeless people and people without access to vehicles seemed to have been trapped in the town.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Water on fire -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kent described how power and cell phone coverage had been knocked out Tuesday, and she had been unaware of any approaching danger until a sudden shift of wind sparked panic.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It was all just word of mouth, like people running down the street saying 'you need to get out.'</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There were guys riding around on bicycles, just screaming at people to leave."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For those who managed to flee, there was worry over missing family.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I still don't know where my little brother is," Tiare Lawrence told Hawaii News Now. "I don't know where my stepdad is.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Everyone I know in Lahaina, their homes have burned down," Lawrence said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chrissy Lovitt told the outlet every boat in Lahaina Harbor had burned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It looks like something out of a movie, a war movie," Lovitt said. "The water was on fire from the fuel in the water."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Surf school manager Elizabeth Smith said she was safe in upcountry Kula, but was concerned for staff and their families in Lahaina.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We do know that one couple was able to evacuate, but we don't know about the others," she told AFP by telephone.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"There's still very limited communication with people from Lahaina."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Winds up to 80 mph -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Luke, the lieutenant governor, said the fires were caused by dry conditions and the powerful winds from Hurricane Dora, which is hundreds of miles south of the islands and is not expected to make landfall.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She said the fires have burned hundreds of acres and were being fanned by winds up to 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Almost 13,000 people were without power on Maui, according to tracking website poweroutage.us.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Joe Biden said he was mobilizing all resources to help.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I have ordered all available Federal assets on the Islands to help with response," Biden said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The Hawaiian National Guard has mobilized Chinook Helicopters to help with fire suppression and search and rescue on the Island of Maui.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The US Coast Guard and Navy Third Fleets are supporting response and rescue efforts." AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>