Devastating wildfires in the Hawaiian Islands – coupled with vast communication gaps created by the interruption of services – have many travellers in limbo as they struggle to leave the especially hard-hit island of Maui or reschedule imminent travel plans.Fires on parts of the islands of Maui and Hawaii were burning Wednesday, creating dangerous conditions in some parts of those two islands. The most harrowing conditions on Wednesday appeared to be in West Maui in the town of Lahaina.
Some areas of the Kohala Coast on the island of Hawaii were evacuated because of fires, according to the county's website. Mandatory evacuations there were lifted Wednesday evening. Fire hazards are noted here. By late Wednesday, state officials had not discouraged travel to that island.State officials were working with hotels and a local airline to try to evacuate tourists to another island, Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke told CNN on Wednesday morning.
United and American told CNN Wednesday that their inbound flights to Maui were canceled. They were operating outbound flights from Maui. Travel adviser Jim Bendt is following that guidance. Bendt said Pique Travel Design is advising clients travelling to Maui in the next week to reschedule their trips to "help ease the burden on local infrastructure."
"For future travel, we are waiting on damage assessments to determine the best path forward but don't anticipate canceling trips once it's safe to return," Bendt said. She's been unable to communicate with the hotel they had booked in the resort area of Ka'anapali, which is near one of the fire outbreaks. "I've tried to phone them several times, but the line is absolutely dead. I sent them a text message but no reply so far."