How could this house be spared from the inferno? While everything around is in ruins, it doesn't seem to have suffered a single spark.

DLNews Staff:

Around 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed - at least 96 dead.

The wonder house of Lahaina: The roof looks like new, and the walls are freshly painted.

It's an apocalyptic scene with images of absolute destruction. Wherever you look: charred trees and houses burned down to their foundations. Almost nothing remains of the historic town of Lahaina on Hawaii's dream island of Maui; According to the latest official information, at least 96 people died in the devastating fire, and thousands lost EVERYTHING.

And then there's this photo of Stephen Lam reporting from the stricken region for the San Francisco Chronicle. The image, taken by Lam from the air, shows a pitch-black settlement - everything is in ruins.

Burnt-out vehicles on a parking lot in the city of disaster.

But right at the front, directly on the Pacific coast, there is a house that apparently "fended off" the terrible flames. It almost seems like it was put there after the fire. The roof: looks like new! The wall color: bright white! Not a single spark appears to have touched the house.

While everything is level to the ground, this wonder waterfront home has been entirely spared. But very few residents of Lahaina share the happiness of its owner.

As the Pacific Disaster Center and the US Disaster Management Agency Fema announced, around 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed in the disaster. According to initial estimates, the reconstruction will cost around 5.5 billion dollars.

New evacuations were only ordered on Friday in the coastal village of Kaanapali, north of Lahaina. Winds had reignited the fires there. It said a fire near a gas station in Kaanapali was brought under 100 percent control by the evening. Hundreds of vehicles would have waited there to be refueled. No fuel will be given out there on Saturday.

In addition to the fire in the west, fires broke out in other regions of Maui and on the neighboring island of Hawaii at the beginning of the week, which had spread quickly due to strong winds at speeds of up to 130 kilometers per hour.

Around 2200 buildings were damaged or destroyed, according to the authorities.

Footage of historic downtown Lahaina showed the destruction left by the fires. In entire streets, hardly more than the foundations of houses remained. The emergency services cordoned off the affected quarters. According to the district, emergency accommodation for the evacuees was set up in schools, churches, and gymnasiums, and food was distributed to the needy.

By Friday, the winds had gradually died down. The first residents of the small town were initially able to return to their homes to inspect the damage. Previously, Hawaii's Gov. Josh Green had warned residents that they would find destruction "like they have never seen in their lives."

Burnt-out car in a parking lot.

According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, police closed the highway access to Lahaina again a few hours after the road was released. According to the newspaper, the reason was disputes between residents and the police over access to areas that were still closed.

According to the district administration, people had tried to reach relatives in these zones, some on foot. This would put them in danger and delay the rescue work, as the emergency services would have to interrupt the search for victims and instead turn away unauthorized persons.

With an area of around 1900 square kilometers, the Hawaiian island is about half the size of the Spanish holiday island of Mallorca. According to the city's retail association, it is visited by around two million tourists annually.

Authorities fear more deaths.

Meanwhile, the extinguishing and clean-up work continued in several places. The authorities expected more deaths, especially since the rescue workers were only able to penetrate the interior of the destroyed building gradually. So far, mainly victims who had fled their homes at the time of their death have been identified, said Governor Green.

Firefighters extinguish a small fire.

According to CNN, Green had ordered an investigation into the authorities' initially sluggish response. There had been criticism because no warning sirens had been used on Maui originally.

There had been complaints in Lahaina that an evacuation might have been ordered too late – according to the New York Times, there were reports on Facebook on Thursday that the fires were under control. Fire Chief Bradford Ventura later said at a press conference that the fires had spread surprisingly quickly and had previously been "almost impossible" to order evacuations quickly enough.

Power was restored to most of the island's residents on Friday. According to the government, additional cell phone capacities have been available in West Maui. Citizens were encouraged to text rather than call so that as many people could take advantage of limited resources.