The county said firefighters have been facing “multiple flare-ups” and additional firefighters were requested from Honolulu. Overnight, 30 U.S. Army service members arrived on the island and will conduct search and recovery efforts Thursday morning.

Maui resident Dustin Kaleiopu said he and his family had just “minutes to escape” their home before fire consumed it.

At first, Tuesday morning seemed normal; it was windy and the electricity went out, which isn't uncommon, Kaleiopu told NBC’s “TODAY” Thursday.

“By 3:30 p.m., the smoke had started to get thicker … and it started to make its way closer to our home. We could hear the explosions happening around the block from the gas station and from businesses. By 4:30 p.m., our neighbor’s yard was on fire,” he said.

“We had minutes to escape because an hour later, we would find out that our home had burned completely to the ground,” he added.

His father, who had no way of communicating with Kaleiopu, had returned to the home after work to search for his family, and found the house “completely burned to the ground.”

Kaleiopu's brother waited on the side of a highway on his father's route home and flagged him down and the family was ultimately reunited, he said.

Kaleiopu said that in a matter of just 36 hours his town is gone and his world as he knew it, altered.

“Every single person that I work with, the people that I see at the bank, the grocery store, everyone I know is now homeless. In 36 hours our town has been burnt to ash. There’s nothing left,” he said.