Deadly wildfires burning across Maui prompt evacuations

As wildfires ripped through Maui Tuesday, the US Coast Guard was deployed to Lahaina to rescue 14 people who fled into the water to escape the advancing fire and smoke, the agency said in a Wednesday update.

The Coast Guard had previously said 12 people were rescued.

The survivors, who were picked up on a 45-foot boat, are in stable condition, the agency said in a news release.

The rescue boat and Coast Guard crew remained on the scene near Lahaina Wednesday, it said.

A number of significant historical sites in Maui's tourist hub of Lahaina have been destroyed by fires, according to a CNN analysis of Maxar Technologies satellite imagery.

Several buildings along Lahaina's historic Front Street have been impacted, according to the satellite imagery, which was taken at 11:03 a.m. local time Wednesday.

Among the losses is a towering banyan tree -- one of the largest in the US -- which was imported to the island from India in 1873, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. There appears to be no vegetation on the tree when compared to earlier images.

The Lahaina Heritage Museum, housed in a courthouse just west of the tree, has been burned so badly that the roof has collapsed and only its walls remain, the images show.

The Baldwin Home Museum -- an 1830s-era house believed to be the oldest home on the island -- has been reduced to ash. Lahaina Restoration Foundation executive director Theo Morrison confirmed to CNN earlier Wednesday that the house had been burnt.

Further north, the Wo Hing Temple Museum has also been destroyed. The two-story structure was built in 1912 to be a temple and social hall for the island's Chinese immigrant community.

While shelter space for an emergency response to the raging wildfires in Maui is available for a just a few days, "there's not enough shelter for long-term living," according to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.

He told CNN's Sara Sidner Wednesday that individuals should visit the island another time, noting that residents are struggling to recover from the unprecedented fires.

Several thousand people will need housing, he estimated.

Officials are asking visitors who can to leave Lahaina and Maui as soon as possible.

The County noted that seats were available on outgoing flights.  

According to the news release, “on Wednesday afternoon, the Transportation Security Administration was reporting that seats are available on outgoing flights at Kahului Airport. Travelers need to call airlines to make reservations.”

Power in west Maui remains out and there is still no landline or cellphone service.  

Firefighters are continuing to battle the fire that “burned multiple structures and brush in Lahaina, as well as fires in the Pulehu/Kīhei and Upcountry areas.”

There is no change in containment levels for the fires burning in Lahaina, Pulehu and Upcountry, the county noted. 

Hawaii is seeking a presidential emergency declaration from President Joe Biden, Gov. Josh Green told CNN's Sara Sidner Wednesday evening.

The governor said he's asked for resources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency along with "additional firefighter resources, which the state's already authorized, and we've declared an emergency here as has Maui County."

"Next, though, will come the presidential order which is for a major disaster, and that's based on how much structural damage has occurred," Green said, adding he expects "billions of dollars of structural damage to be determined."

More than 271 structures have been impacted in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, following a sprawling wildfire, according to a news release from Maui County Wednesday.  

There are no significant changes reported in the Lahaina, Upcountry and Pūlehu fires and no new evacuations, the county said. 

About 100 Maui firefighters “have been on duty around the clock” and are currently addressing spot fires around Lahaina, the county said, and the Maui Fire Department requested an additional 20 firefighters from Honolulu and an incident management team.

Three helicopters from the US Coast Guard and US Navy conducted search and rescue efforts along the west Maui coastline, and a federal team arrived Wednesday to help in search efforts as well, the release said.

Officials in Hawaii are set to hold a news conference at 3 a.m. ET (9 p.m. local time), according to two staff members with the Hawaii Lieutenant Governor’s Office. 

Resident Daniel Sullivan described the scene as "apocalyptic" as fires surrounded his neighborhood in Maui.

With his kids downstairs in his home, he went to the roof and watched flames get "closer and closer – and we had no way to get out because the roads were blocked."

His home survived but he said many friends had lost theirs in the wildfires that erupted overnight on Maui. "The island has been decimated," he told CNN's Kaitlin Collins.

Maui Memorial Medical Center is treating five people, including two people with "critical injuries," for “burn, smoke inhalation, and other fire-related injuries” as a result of the fires on the island, the center said in a news release Wednesday.  

"Additionally, since last night, seven patients have been transferred to Oahu for specialty services, including some fire-related injuries. All other patients have been treated and released," the statement said.

The health system is prepared “to activate a surge plan should the demand for medical services spike,” and is working with other health systems nearby “to ensure the timely treatment of care,” the center added.