How to help victims of the Hawaii wildfires
If you want to help victims of the wildfires in Hawaii, visit redcross.org/foxforward or text 'HAWAII' to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
FOX Corporation has launched a donation drive for relief efforts by the American Red Cross following the deadly Hawaiian wildfires.
Fox News viewers will be able to donate directly to relief efforts through FOX Forward Red Cross by clicking here.
A QR code will appear on-screen throughout the Fox News' coverage of the wildfires for viewers to scan and then be directed to FOX Forward Red Cross.
Viewers can also text "HAWAII" to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
Viewers can scan this QR code to make a donation to the American Red Cross as part of FOX Corporation's drive to provide relief for victims of the Hawaiian wildfires. (FOX Corporation)
Hawaii officials announced Thursday that the death toll from the wildfires has reached at least 55 people with many still missing.
The wildfires, propelled by the winds of Hurricane Dora, have devastated the island of Maui and the historic town of Lahaina.
The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Tuesday. (Matthew Thayer/The Maui News via AP)
Amid the devastation, the state announced that its emergency management system, which is the world's largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system, showed no indications of triggering warning sirens when the natural disaster began on Tuesday.
Instead, the county issued alerts through mobile phones, televisions and radio stations, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Adam Weintraub told The Associated Press.
It is unclear if the alerts were issued prior to widespread power and cellular outages on Maui, but many of Lahaina's survivors have stated in interviews at evacuation centers that they never heard a siren and only realized they were in danger once they saw flames or heard explosions.
Side-by side comparison of the destruction in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Michael Siluk/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images | Zeke Kalua/County of Maui via AP)
Maui Fire Department Chief Brad Ventura told the AP that the fire moved so quickly that it was impossible to relay messages to the agencies responsible for emergency alerts.
While the number of victims is expected to increase, the wildfire is already the state's deadliest natural disaster since a tsunami in 1960 killed 61 people on the Big Island. It is also the deadliest U.S. wildfire since California's Camp Fire in 2018, which killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise.
"Lahaina, with a few rare exceptions, has been burned down," Gov. Josh Green said after walking the devastation Thursday morning with Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen. "Without a doubt, it feels like a bomb was dropped on Lahaina."
Fox News' Elizabeth Pritchett and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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