They still don’t know how it started.
I didn’t realize a tropical rainforest would burn this easily. Maui is listed in the 10 wettest places on earth.
The death toll is still rising as rescuers go into buildings. 
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/what-caused-the-maui-and-hawaii-fires-heres-what-we-know/ar-AA1facR7
All the Hawaiian islands, including Maui, have a wet side, where it rains almost constantly, and a dry side, where it hardly ever rains. Lahaina is on the dry side.
Here’s a rainfall map:
Correct – and the high rainfall is entirely dependent on mountains. A flat island in the same location will tend towards dry and scrubby.
Thank you for clearing that up.
I didn’t know there was that much weather difference on a island.
Over on the Hana side you can literally drive from full rain forest to stinking desert in 10 miles. It’s that stark. The West Maui mountains loom above Lahaina and are one of the wettest places on earth, but Lahaina and Kihei are high desert.
Hawai’i Island has (according to this site) 8 different climate zones.
If you get tired of the weather; drive a few miles 
Lahaina means cruel sun. Lahaina is the hottest and driest place on Maui. It was hot, and dry and had high winds. The winds were especially strong, almost all of that side of the island had no power because the power poles were swept away. It went up like a match.
Not only does Maui have both a rain forest and a desert, but its mountain peak sometimes gets snow. It’s about 11,000 feet.
As the question has been answered, further discussion probably belongs in the main thread.