Singed trees, scorched homes: shock as Lahaina reckons with unfathomable losses

Residents who returned this weekend after the devastating fires took in the sweeping view of a ruined town

As the first residents returned to Lahaina this weekend, just days after Maui's devastating fires all but leveled the historic town, some got out of their cars and simply stared.

There was always much to marvel over in the waterfront community of 13,000 people, the former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom: the shops on Front Street, the Pioneer Inn and Waiola church, and the endless sprawl of the 150-year-old banyan tree. This week's disaster laid waste to all of it.