The resort town of Lahaina was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, drawing 80% of the island's visitors every year.
Much of it has now been reduced to smoldering ruins, according to governor Josh Green.
The fast-moving inferno killed more than 50 people, a toll expected to rise, turned thousands homeless and destroyed as many as 1,000 buildings.
This tourist from California, was on vacation with his wife and five children as the fire approached.
They were forced to jump into the sea after escaping their rental car in Lahaina.
"We were out there floating, the news was so surreal and everything was burning around, explosions, cars blowing up, embers just flying. We couldn't breathe. We couldn't breathe, there was no air, just carbon monoxide and we held on as best as we could. My wife, my kids, my old daughter helped with the younger ones and tried to stick it out together. The waves just tried to take us out to the ocean. We had to come back."
Many more people suffered burns, smoke inhalation and other injuries.
The inferno that ravaged Lahaina was one of three major wildfires on Maui, all of them still burning - fueled by dry conditions, a buildup of fuel and 60 mph gusts of wind.
The fate of some of Lahaina's cultural treasures remains unclear.
The historic 60-foot-tall banyan tree marking the spot where a 19th-century palace stood is still standing, though some of its boughs appeared charred.
