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There have been many images of the Lahaina fire, but I have not yet read a searing and sensuous description of the fire and the flame.
So here is such a description partly borrowed from witnesses of a similarly intense fire.
By mid-afternoon, winds had dramatically increased to hurricane force and were hurtling down the West Maui Mountains, fanning the flames of grass-fed fires like an enormous bellows, merging everything into one gigantic blaze.
Fusillades of ashes began blowing toward wooden structures below.
When it grew dark, ash, embers, smoke and panic preceded the flames.
The glowing embers began to cascade around and onto rooftops, as people fled on foot and from backed-up cars to rock piles by the edge of the ocean or into the ocean.
Everyone was now aware of a terrifying whirlwind. The fire was creating a weather system of its own. It became a beast, a dragon of flame, pursuing people and oxygen, searching for more fuel and consuming everything in its path.
Explosions began to be heard. The fire was drafting in on its own winds, moving faster than a horse can run.
The fire became a cauldron of gases and explosive heat, a convection engine, pulling air into its vortex, and shooting it skywards, a relentless wall of incendiary mayhem.
People grew smaller and smaller in their own consciousness, as prayer, faith and karma filled the voids left by fear.
Raphael O'Suna
Haiku