At least 36 people have died in ferocious wildfires that have ravaged the historic town of Lahaina in Hawaii, as crews continued mass evacuation efforts and desperate searches for survivors. Officials warned on Thursday that the death toll in the blazes on the island of Maui could rise. Search teams spread out to charred areas on the island at first light. At least 30 people have been injured by the disaster, authorities said. “We barely made it out,” Lahaina resident Kamuela Kawaakoa, 34, told the Associated Press at an evacuation shelter on Wednesday. The US president, Joe Biden, on Thursday approved a disaster declaration for Maui, which will allow federal aid be used to help local recovery efforts for areas affected by the wildfires. He pledged that the federal response will ensure “anyone who’s lost a loved one, or who’s home has been damaged or destroyed, is going to get help immediately”. Fire engulfed the town of 13,000 residents on Tuesday night when strong winds propelled a blaze that had started in vegetation to the urban center. With flames and smoke rapidly spreading, some adults and children were driven to dive into the ocean for safety. By Wednesday, it had become clear that significant parts of Lahaina, once the capital of the Hawaiian royal kingdom, had been destroyed. The fire, the deadliest in the US in five years, appears to have consumed most of the town’s historic waterfront, including 271 structures and homes, leaving a wasteland in its wake. It charred what is described as the largest banyan in the US. Aerial video showed businesses destroyed on Front Street, a popular tourist destination. “It was like a war zone,” Alan Barrios, a Lahaina resident, told Honolulu Civil Beat. “There was explosions left and right.” South-east of Lahaina, flames continued to chew through trees and buildings in coastal Kihei on Wednesday night, leaving wide swaths of ground glowing red with embers. Gusty winds blew sparks over a black and orange patchwork of charred earth and still-crackling hot spots. On Thursday, three fires remained active on the island, in Lahaina, Pulehu and Upcountry. The Maui fire department reported “no significant changes” on the three fires, and said no containment estimates were available. County officials said firefighters have been facing “multiple flare-ups” and additional firefighters were requested from Honolulu. Search and rescue efforts are a priority, said Adam Weintraub, a spokesperson for Hawaii emergency management agency. But teams will not be able to access certain areas until the fire lines are secure and they can get to those areas safely, he added. “We are still in life preservation mode. Search and rescue is still a primary concern,” Weintraub said. Officials were working to evacuate residents and tourists stranded in Kaanapali, just north of Lahaina. Officials were preparing a convention center in Honolulu to accommodate up to 4,000 people displaced by the wildfires. Kahului airport in Maui was also sheltering 2,000 travelers who recently arrived on the island or whose flights were canceled. Assessing the full extent of the damage could take weeks or months, officials said. But the devastation is already being compared to the 2018 Camp fire in California that killed at least 85 people, destroyed nearly 19,000 homes, businesses and other buildings, and virtually razed the town of Paradise. “These fires are absolutely devastating, and we will not know the full extent of the damage for a while. In the meantime, the highest priority is the safety of the people,” said Brian Schatz, the US senator for Hawaii, in a statement. Biden said he had “ordered all available federal assets on the islands to help with response”. He expressed his condolences and said that he and his wife Jill’s “prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed”. The acting Hawaii governor, Sylvia Luke, issued an emergency proclamation on behalf of Governor Josh Green, who was traveling, and urged tourists to stay away. “This is not a safe place to be,” she said. Lahaina residents Kawaakoa and Iiulia Yasso told the AP about a harrowing escape under smoke-filled skies. The couple and their six-year-old son got back to their apartment after a quick dash to the supermarket for water, and only had time to grab a change of clothes and run as the bushes around them caught fire. As the family fled, a senior center across the road erupted in flames. They called 911, but didn’t know if the people got out. As they drove away, downed utility poles and others fleeing in cars slowed their progress. Kawaakoa grew up in the apartment building, called Lahaina Surf, where his dad and grandmother also lived. “It was so hard to sit there and just watch my town burn to ashes and not be able to do anything,” Kawaakoa said. “I was helpless.” Baldwin Home, built in 1834-35 and the oldest house on Maui, was among the structures that burned down, a museum official said. James Tokioka, the director of the department of business, economic development and tourism, said: “Local people have lost everything … They’ve lost their house, they’ve lost their animals.” Hurricane Dora complicated matters for firefighters in an already dry season. Hawaii, which is currently facing drought conditions, is sandwiched between high pressure to the north and a low pressure system associated with Dora, said Jeff Powell, a meteorologist in Honolulu, adding that dryness and gusts “make a dangerous fire situation so that fires that do exist can spread out of control very rapidly”. The US National Weather Service (NWS) said Dora was partly to blame for wind gusts above 60mph (96km/h) on Tuesday night, when the fire spread. The winds knocked out power and forced firefighting helicopters to stay grounded. The Maui county mayor, Richard Bissen Jr, said the island had “been tested like never before in our lifetime”. “We are grieving with each other during this inconsolable time,” he said in a recorded statement. “In the days ahead, we will be stronger as a kaiaulu, or community, as we rebuild with resilience and aloha.” The former US president Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, said in a statement: “It’s tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawaii – a place that’s so special to so many of us. Michelle and I are thinking of everyone who has lost a loved one, or whose life has been turned upside down.”