Lahaina, Hawaii - Hawaii's chief legal officer said Friday she was opening a probe into the handling of devastating wildfires that killed at least 80 people in the state this week, as criticism grows of the official response.

The announcement and increased death toll came as residents of Lahaina were allowed back into the town for the first time – with most finding their homes reduced to ashes after the wildfires, and even the lucky few angry at a sense of abandonment.

"Where is the government? Where are they?" said a man who did not want to be named. "This is insane. We can't move freely, we don't get the support, now we've heard about looting."

Hawaii's Attorney General Anne Lopez said her office would examine "critical decision-making and standing policies leading up to, during and after the wildfires on Maui and Hawai'i islands this week."

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She added that her department would make the findings public.

Late Friday, Maui County officials revised the death toll to 80, adding that 1,418 people were in emergency evacuation shelters.

The fires follow other extreme weather events in North America this summer, with record-breaking wildfires still burning across Canada and a major heat wave baking the US southwest.

Europe and parts of Asia have also endured soaring temperatures, with major fires and floods wreaking havoc. Scientists have said global warming caused by carbon emissions is contributing to the extreme weather.

The number of people killed this month in Hawaii has surpassed the count from when a tsunami struck the Big Island in 1960, making it the worst natural disaster in the state's history.

"Without a doubt, there will be more fatalities. We don't know ultimately how many will have occurred," Governor Josh Green said.

Crews from Honolulu arrived on Maui along with search and rescue teams from the US mainland equipped with five K-9 cadaver dogs, Maui County said.

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Firefighters were continuing to extinguish flare-ups and contain wildfires in Lahaina, with spot blazes evident to the AFP team in the town.

Maui County Police Chief John Pelletier said Thursday that as many as 1,000 people could be unaccounted for, though he stressed that this did not mean they were missing or dead.