“Who started the fire?”
There are lots of conspiracy theory threads on FR about that.
Most likely cause is that downed electrical lines or arson started the fires. They had a brush fire up the hill from town under control and then pulled the fire fighters off to another fire on the island. The fire reignighted then caught houses on fire. The winds were blowing 60-70+ mph. Coming down off the mountains and running down to the ocean east to west. The majority of Lahaina was older wooden structures(not concrete).
Once the flames caught one house the embers were flying through the air spreading from house to house. Eventually most of the town went up.
I have watched dozens of YouTube videos over the last week about this tragedy. The other main factor at least on Maui is that all the old sugar cane fields are no longer planted with cane or pineapples. It is cheaper to produce in Brazil, Philippeans or other places. Those fields are now just grasslands and scrub brush that runs right down to the edge of town. The grass grows up in the winter/spring and then drys out to straw in the summer/dry season.
You stated that you have been to Maui many times. The west side of the island is very dry. Most of the rain falls on the Hana and east side of the mountain ranges. It typically does not make it over the mountain peaks without dumping the rain. North of Lahaina up by Kapalua is one of the windiest places on the planet. The only place I have ever been that was more windy was Aruba.
That’s good information so thank you and I’m not a local. However, I’m at the point now where I am always cynical about tragic events that coincide with media and political narratives that seems to drive an agenda. It’s now know that the huge fires in California that had the usuals going nuts on TV were started by an arsonist and there was almost no media coverage of that news.