WestJet and Air Canada are planning recovery flights to Maui as Hawaiian officials say the death toll from the wildfires on the Pacific island will climb.
The wildfires have so far killed at least 67 people and unleashed destruction on the resort town of Lahaina, which will take many years and billions of dollars to rebuild, officials said on Thursday.
WestJet, which operates a flight to Maui, “proactively cancelled” three of its flights to Kahului from Vancouver this week.
A spokesperson told Global News in an email a recovery flight from Kahului to Vancouver is scheduled for Friday, as well as another flight from the island to Vancouver via Honolulu.
“We are working to notify all impacted guests and encourage them to check the status of their flights before heading to the airport,” they said.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely and will make operational changes in the name of safety as necessary. All guests currently in the region are advised to follow all response instructions provided by local authorities.”
Local authorities have warned tourists to stay away while the wildfires burn. Ottawa is giving that same advice, telling Canadians to avoid non-essential travel to Maui.
Air Canada, which operates one daily flight between Vancouver and Maui, told Global News in a statement Friday it flew two full flights in a 298-seat Dreamliner earlier this week, and is planning a third flight for Friday night.
“The Maui situation remains dynamic and continues to evolve,” a spokesperson said.
“We are monitoring the situation very closely and will adjust our flight schedule and operations as required.”
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said the inferno that reduced much of Lahaina to smouldering ruins was the worst natural disaster in the state’s history, making thousands of people homeless and levelling as many as 1,000 buildings.
The fast-moving inferno, which started on Tuesday, spread from the brush outside of town and ravaged the historic city of Lahaina that was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
It was one of three major wildfires on Maui, all of them still burning, that were fuelled by dry conditions, a buildup of fuel and 100 km/h gusts of wind.
Thousands of tourists and locals were evacuated from the western side of Maui, which has a year-round population of about 166,000, with some taking shelter on the island or on the neighboring island of Oahu.
The U.S. Coast Guard said on Friday that from Tuesday night into the early morning of Wednesday, they had rescued 17 people from the waters of Lahaina Harbour, which they had jumped into in an effort to flee fire and smoke that had “overtaken Lahaina.”
Capt. Aja Kirksey, commander of Sector Honolulu of the Coast Guard, said all 17 survivors were reported to be in stable condition. There were other people in the water that were assisted by other agencies, she said.
The County of Maui said early Friday that 14,900 visitors left Maui by air on Thursday.
Tourists camped in the Kahului Airport, waiting for flights back home. Some people fled the flames by jumping into the Pacific Ocean.
Wildfires have popped up elsewhere in the world this summer. The blazes, often caused by record-setting heat, forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in Greece, Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe.
In Western Canada, a series of unusually severe fires sent clouds of smoke over vast swaths of the U.S., polluting the air.
Human-caused climate change, driven by fossil fuel use, is increasing the frequency and intensity of such extreme weather events, scientists have said, having long warned that countries must slash emissions to prevent climate catastrophe.
— with files from Reuters
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