Fire and smoke fill the sky from wildfires on the intersection at Hokiokio Place and Lahaina Bypass in Maui on Tuesday. AP

A wildfire tore through the heart of Maui on Wednesday with alarming speed and ferocity, destroying homes and businesses in a historic tourist town, injuring at least two dozen people and forcing panicked residents to jump into the ocean to flee the flames.

Fire was widespread in Lahaina Town, including on Front Street, a popular shopping and dining area, County of Maui spokesperson Mahina Martin said by phone early on Wednesday. Traffic has been very heavy as people try to evacuate the area, and officials asked people who weren’t in an evacuation area to shelter in place to avoid adding to the traffic, she said.

Photos posted by the county overnight showed a line of flames blazing across an intersection and leaping above buildings in the town centre that dates to the 1700s and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Aerial video from after sunrise showed entire blocks of buildings reduced to ash.

"Do NOT go to Lahaina Town,” the county tweeted hours before all roads in and out of West Maui’s biggest community were closed to everyone except emergency personnel.

Crews on Maui were battling multiple blazes concentrated in two areas: the tourist destination of West Maui and an inland, mountainous region. In West Maui, 911 service was out and residents were directed to call the police department directly.

Vancouver residents Trevor Gurnsey and Shannon Gurnsey receive news that their home in West Maui. Reuters

The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which was passing to the south of the island chain at a safe distance of 500 miles (805 kilometres), was partly to blame for gusts above 60 mph (97 kph) that knocked out power, rattled homes and grounded firefighting helicopters. The strong winds were expected to diminish later on Wednesday, but there was little chance of rain to aid firefighters, the weather service said.

12 rescued from ocean

The Coast Guard on Tuesday responded to areas where people had fled into the ocean to escape the fire and smoky conditions, the county said in a statement. The Coast Guard tweeted that a crew rescued 12 people from the water off Lahaina.

Six patients were flown from Maui to the island of Oahu on Tuesday night, said Speedy Bailey, regional director for Hawaii Life Flight, an air-ambulance company. Three of them had critical burns and were taken to Straub Medical Center’s burn unit, he said. The others were taken to other Honolulu hospitals. At least 20 patients were taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center, he said. He had not heard of any deaths.

Authorities said earlier on Wednesday that a firefighter in Maui was hospitalised in stable condition after inhaling smoke.

Cincinnati residents Jolie Campbell and Conner Campbell await a flight to leave Maui. Reuters

"This is so unprecedented,” Martin said, noting that multiple districts were affected. An emergency in the night is terrifying, she said, and the darkness makes it hard to gauge the extent of the damage.

Because of the wind gusts on Maui, helicopters weren't able to dump water on the fires or get aerial estimates of the fire sizes, and firefighters were encountering roads blocked by downed trees and power lines as they worked the inland fires, Martin said.

About 14,500 customers in Maui were without power early on Wednesday, according to poweroutage.us.

Tiare Lawrence was frantically trying to reach her siblings on Wednesday morning, but there was no phone service. Her home in the Maui community of Pukalani, east of Lahaina, was refuge for 14 cousins and uncles who fled Lahaina. "It was apocalyptic from what they explained,” Lawrence said. "The heat. Smoke and flames everywhere. They had to get my elderly uncle out of the home.”

Associated Press