By: Nina He
On August 9th, a wildfire started on the island of Maui near an intersection in Lahaina. On Sunday, the number of deaths caused by the fire reached up to 93, with more bodies to be found.
Governor Josh Green had called it “the worst natural disaster Hawaii had ever faced.”
On Saturday, four days after the fire, the destruction was clear. Trees which had once been leafy and majestic had been stripped of their leaves and pride. Plants had been burned to crisps. Buildings had fallen. Corpses of humans are scattered all around the island.
“We can only wait and support those who are living. Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them healthcare, and then turn to rebuilding,” said Governor Green.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said the crews had been sent out with corpse-sniffing dogs. The process was a slow, long one, only covering three percent of the whole search area. “We’ve got an area that we have to contain that is at least five square miles and it is full of our loved ones.”
Trying to identify dead corpses is reallying hard because “we pick up the remains and they fall apart…When we find our family and our friends, the remains that we’re finding is through a fire that melted metal,” Chief Pelletier said. Only two people had been identified.
When the fire started, the sirens around the island for warning the citizens of natural disasters never sounded, and officials said they would check the energy notification systems after some people asked if more could’ve been done to warn them.
Governor Green said that almost 2,200 buildings have been burnt to rubble, and about 86% were homes of families. It would cost about six billion dollars to cover the rebuilding, and a lot of time for people to recover.
Kristina Lee-Garrido was on vacation with a friend in Maui when the fire started. They were in a rental unit that went on fire almost as soon as the fire reached their neighborhood.
“We were in our rooms and the front part of the building started on fire, so we ran to the back part, the pool, and it continued to burn while we were in the pool,” Lee-Garrido said. “We could not see another living soul. It was thick black smoke, so we knew we needed to get to the pool. There were no other options.”
Even though it was a narrow escape, Lee-Garrido did, and she wasn’t the only one that escaped the devastating fires. Perhaps that is a sign of hope.
Fires burn down buildings, people rebuild the buildings, and people come together. In the time of chaos, people realize they need each other. Maybe that just makes the fire worth it.