The main Maui wildfires of 2023 are widely reported to have begun on August 8, 2023 , with brush fires first reported just after midnight and early morning that day on the island of Maui, including near Lahaina and in the Kula (Upcountry) area.

Quick Scoop

Here’s the key timeline people usually mean when they ask “when did the Maui fires begin?” :

  • Early August 2023: Brushfires and very dry, high‑risk conditions were already present on Maui in the days leading up to the disaster.
  • August 8, 2023 (just after midnight): A brush fire was reported in the Kula/Upcountry Maui area shortly after 12:20 a.m.
  • August 8, 2023 (early morning): Another brush fire of a few acres was reported near Lahainaluna Road by Lahaina around 6:30 a.m.
  • August 8, 2023 (afternoon): The Lahaina fire, initially thought contained, flared up and rapidly turned into the catastrophic urban fire that devastated the historic town.
  • Because of this sequence, news outlets, legal summaries, and reference sources generally say the Maui wildfires “began” on August 8, 2023.

In short: while there were warning‑sign brushfires and risk conditions in the days before, the disaster remembered as the Maui fires is dated to August 8, 2023.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.