Hearts in Hawai'i
"There's Nothing Left...It's Gone"
8/11/2023
Incomprehensible
I don't even know what to say. Hopefully typing this out will make the reality of this horror sink in. To think that so many places we had seen and enjoyed over the years on Lahaina, Maui's Front Street were wiped out in a few hours of fire blown by near-hurricane force winds is unfathomable. I can't even begin to imagine what this is like for so many residents there. Tonight, I'll fall asleep in a cozy, safe bed. Many on the Valley Isle won't and it hurts my heart knowing that.
By the way, the title of this blog entry is a quote from a bartender who worked at Captain Jack's Island Grill, located on Front Street in Lahaina. This area bore the brunt of the wildfire which broke out on August 9.
In the near aftermath of the West Maui fires, that wonderful tourist town of Lahaina looks like a war zone. Nearly everything is gone there:
--The 150 year old banyan tree? Scorched possibly beyond renewal.
--Shops, art galleries, restaurants? Gone, including Kimo's, where my wife and I enjoyed a wedding night dinner listening to the ocean with lit tiki torches along the railing. Other restaurants we had enjoyed including the afore-mentioned Captain Jack's, Down The Hatch, Amigo's and Cheeseburger in Paradise met a similar fate.
--More tragically, hundreds of residents' homes. People displaced with little to no hope of returning other than to look at their ruined homes which were victimized by what was essentially a firestorm caused by near hurricane force winds.
--And obviously the worst loss; human life. 67 souls lost as of noon (CDT) on August 11. That number is expected to soar as more areas and burned homes are searched.
Everyone was caught by surprise. An earlier fire was seemingly under control and fire fighters had been diverted to another fire near Kula in Maui's Upcountry region. Apparently, a power line downed by strong winds had sparked a new fire and those winds took care of the rest, overwhelming Lahaina in a matter of hours, before an appropriate response could be noted. There was simply no way this could have been stopped.
I spent some time this morning watching video I had shot in 2010 when I took my video camer, jumped in the car and made an early morning slow drive over the length of Front Street. This street only runs a few miles but contains what we tourists know Lahaina to be. And now, little remains of this stretch other than burnt out buildings; those which hadn't collapsed, that is. This just doesn't seem real.
We have hundreds of pictures taken in Lahaina during the course of our eleven trips there since 1996 and hours of video. The memories will remain. The homes may be rebuilt. The many historical buildings in Lahaina, some dating back to the 19th century, cannot be replicated. New buildings will hopefully be built in their place but Lahaina will probably never return to the quaint, historical small town it was until three nights ago. It may, but certainly not in my lifetime.
Tonight I hope and pray for those still missing in Lahaina and other parts of Maui affected by the wildfires. It is they who matter, not my memories.
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last updated august 11, 2023
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