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Lahaina residents cope with wildfire loss

Thousands fled Maui after the fires rousted them from their resort hotels Tuesday. But for thousands of people who call Lahaina home, there is no flight to catch and no home to return to. They’ve simply lost everything.

By Rick Bowmer and Audrey McAvoy/AP and Cindy Ellen Russell

Aug. 11, 2023

Hawaii PhotosMauiMaui WildfiresVideo

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VIDEO COURTESY AP
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Thomas Leonard lies on an air mattress at an evacuation center at the War Memorial Gymnasium after his Lahaina apartment burned down, Thursday, Aug. 10, in Wailuku.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Thomas Leonard lies on an air mattress at an evacuation center at the War Memorial Gymnasium after his Lahaina apartment was destroyed by wildfire, Thursday, Aug. 10, in Wailuku, Hawaii.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Thomas Leonard lies on an air mattress at an evacuation center at the War Memorial Gymnasium after his Lahaina apartment was destroyed by wildfire, Thursday, Aug. 10, in Wailuku, Hawaii.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Myrna Ah Hee reacts as she waits in front of an evacuation center at the War Memorial Gymnasium, Thursday, Aug. 10, in Wailuku. The Ah Hees were there because they were looking for her husband's brother. Their own home in Lahaina was spared, but the homes of many of their relatives were destroyed by wildfires.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Myrna and Abraham Ah Hee react as they stand in front of an evacuation center at the War Memorial Gymnasium, Thursday, Aug. 10, in Wailuku. The Ah Hees were there because they were looking for Abraham's brother. Their own home in Lahaina was spared, but the homes of many of their relatives were destroyed by wildfires. They haven't been able to get in touch with Abraham's brother.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Myrna Ah Hee reacts as she waits in front of an evacuation center at the War Memorial Gymnasium, Thursday, Aug. 10, in Wailuku. The Ah Hees were there because they were looking for her husband's brother. Their own home in Lahaina was spared, but the homes of many of their relatives were destroyed by wildfires.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kamuela Kawaakoa and Iiulia Yasso and their son Kama, all of Lahaina, rest at an evacuation shelter in Wailuku, Hawaii on Wednesday, Aug. 9. Wildfires have devastated parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui, killing multiple people, damaging or destroying over 270 structures and reducing most of a historic town to ash.
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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

Zandra Amaral-Crouse talks to Elian Maui firefighter Hans DuBach while wearing a mask her nephew bought her for safety on Wednesday, Aug. 9.
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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

Elian Montaya hands Maui firefighter Hans DuBach drinks to cool off on Wednesday, Aug. 9.
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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

Evacuees from the wildfires ravaging Maui begin to settle in the War Memorial Center gymnasium on Wednesday, Aug. 9.
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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

Julius Limbaga, 38, had just awoken from a nap when he smelt smoke in his Lahaina apartment, “The fire was so fast and in just a blink of an eye it was everywhere,” said Limbaga who had no choice but to douse himself in water and make a run to the harbor with his rubber slippers melting on the way. He was rescued from the harbor by the US Coast Guard and taken to the hospital with second degree burns on his face, arm, legs and torso. Limbaga said he chose to discharge himself and to stay at the War Memorial Complex in Wailuku so that other patients with more severe burns could be treated at the medical facility. He is pictured having his dressings changed by registered nurse Savannah Hupe who volunteered at the evacuation center.
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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

B. Hoopai, 55, holds her 19-month-old grandaughter, Jezzie, as her husband holds his 9-month-old grandaughter Zori, at the War Memorial Center on Wednesday, Aug. 9. The Hoopai family evacuated from the Ka Hale A Ke Ola homeless shelter in Lahaina.
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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

Julius Limbaga, 38, had just awoken from a nap when he smelt smoke in his Lahaina apartment, “The fire was so fast and in just a blink of an eye it was everywhere,” said Limbaga who had no choice but to douse himself in water and make a run to the harbor with his rubber slippers melting on the way. He was rescued from the harbor by the US Coast Guard and taken to the hospital with second degree burns on his face, arm, legs and torso. Limbaga said he chose to discharge himself and to stay at the War Memorial Complex in Wailuku so that other patients with more severe burns could be treated at the medical facility. He is pictured having his dressings changed by registered nurse Savannah Hupe who volunteered at the evacuation center.
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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

Miguel Martinez holds his one-year-old daughter Aketzali as Rich Kenny standsby in the background at Maui High School which is now serving as an evacuation center for people affected by the wild fires consuming Maui. Miguel Martinez, 27, made it out of Lahaina safely Tuesday night thanks to fellow Lahaina resident Rich Kenny, 80, who was escaping the deadly disaster when he picked up Martinez and roommate Ingrid Lynch on the side of Honoapiilani Highway. Martinez reunited with 1-year-old daughter Aketzali in Kihei.
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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

Alicia Martinez, center, looks upon her daughter, Sylvia Barrios, as her son Alan Barrios looks on exhausted while at Maui High School, which is serving as an evacuation center, on Wednesday, Aug. 9. The mother and daughter had returned from Oahu on Tuesday while Alan Barrios was caught in the fire storm in Lahaina that evening. Barrios documented the raging fires consuming his family's neighborhood with a cellphone and escaped with three of his four cats and some personal belongings.

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