‘Never give up hope’: Maui residents reflect on a year in the wildfires’ aftermath

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One year after deadly wildfires upended life on Maui, several thousand people gathered across the island Thursday to grieve the lives that were lost, reflect on all they’ve endured and affirm their resolve to keep their communities intact as the difficult work to rebuild continues.

At Hanakao’o Park in West Maui, chants of “Lahaina strong!” echoed across the water as hundreds of those residents paddled out on surfboards just offshore from the beach park. They cheered and splashed as crews aboard the Hawaiian voyaging canoes Hokule’a and Mo’okiha O Pi’ilani looked on in support.

Thousands of flower petals rained down on the paddlers from a helicopter overhead.

Scores of residents on Maui prepare for a paddle-out Thursday commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Aug. 8 wildfires. (Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat/2024)

In Upcountry, hundreds more gathered over bentos and cookies at a community center one mile from where neighborhoods were evacuated the day before as firefighters battled to contain a brush fire in Pukalani.

It was an unsettling reminder of the wind-fueled fires that ripped across Maui a year earlier, killing 102 people in Lahaina, displacing more than 3,000 families across the island and causing at least $5 billion in damage.

Residents and other attendees processed a wide range of emotions while marking that somber anniversary Thursday.

“It’s been a rollercoaster,” said Lahaina resident Shaleena Barrios, who attended the Hanakao’o park gathering with her husband, Mike, and their two daughters – Naia, 8, and Bella, 10. They were among the more than 2,000 people estimated to have attended the event.

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A year earlier, the Barrioses had to flee their car, stuck in traffic on Front Street, to escape the fire as it bore down on the historic town. On Thursday, Mike said that he tried to keep himself distracted in the early morning hours and block out those memories as the family prepared for the paddle-out.

“A lot happened that day,” Barrios said. “It’s kind of a day that … I don’t know. You just don’t want to remember.” The family lost its home in the blaze and is working to rebuild it so that they can eventually pass it along to their daughters.

“There’s a lot to figure out, but we’re hopeful,” he added.

The Barrioses have been able to stay in a friend’s condominium for the past year. However, many other displaced families have had to move multiple times to stay on the island. Some displaced families have left Maui altogether as the housing shortage that existed before the fire only got worse and the obstacles to stay grew overwhelming.

Stable housing still desperately needed

Local officials acknowledged this week that creating stable, temporary housing for families displaced by the fire has been among the biggest challenges they’ve faced in the first year. The state, county and federal government have plans in the works to build some 1,044 temporary units across Lahaina in the next year, according to Gov. Josh Green

“The first year was about survival. The second year will be about rebuilding,” Green said Wednesday as he and Maui Mayor Richard Bissen touted a new temporary housing project, dubbed La’Iku, where some 20 displaced families have started to move in.

One of those families, the Ah Pucks, has moved six times since the Lahaina fire destroyed their home.

“Weʻre hoping it will be our last until itʻs time to rebuild,” Carol Ah Puck said Wednesday as she, her husband and daughter moved in Wednesday. The family is awaiting the necessary permits to rebuild their home.

“This is good, at least now we know weʻll be stable — itʻs a stable place to live,” Ah Puck said.

Foundations at the site of the new La’Iku temporary housing complex in Lahaina. The fast-tracked state project aims to give 20 displaced families housing stability in West Maui as they rebuild their permanent homes. Building such temporary housing has been one of the biggest challenges after the 2023 wildfires. (Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat/2024)

At another transitional housing complex that’s being built, Ka La’i Ola, the state has already received 600 applications for some 450 units, according to Green.

At Hanako’o on Thursday, Sen. Brian Schatz said he aims to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to build more transitional homes on top of the 169 that they have planned.

Schatz said that in the coming months he also aims to secure grant funds to help cover the estimated $1.2 billion in unmet fire needs across Maui. That’s the sum not covered by the recent $4.04 legal settlement.

“Nothing is guaranteed in this Congress, but that is my job,” Schatz said Thursday.

Crews have managed to clear much of the debris out of the fires’ burn zones ahead of schedule, Schatz and others said.

Many attending the paddle-out Thursday wore Lahaina Strong shirts. (Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat/2024)

Still, one year after the fire many complex issues remain unresolved in the effort to rebuild Lahaina and other affected areas. That includes how Lahaina’s streets and electrical grids will be configured, and how the area’s limited freshwater resources will be deployed.

Wailuku resident Amy Petersen said that many of the emotions felt by fire victims and other community members affected by the disaster also remain complex – even confusing.

“A lot of people didn’t want to do something like this because they didn’t want to memorialize a day of destruction, and everybody’s process is different,” Petersen said shortly before the Hanakao’o paddle-out. Some people Petersen knew chose to mark the occasion at home, alone. “There’s nothing to compare it to,” she said of the situation.

Still, Keani Rawlins-Fernandez, the Maui County Council’s Molokai member, said that the event was an important outlet for members of the community to process their grief and emotions together.

“There’s a lot of heaviness, but there’s a lot of hope. That’s why this event was important to have today, so that no one is feeling all the emotions alone – that we have this space and opportunity,” Rawlins-Fernandez said Thursday as she prepared to paddle out.

“We’re showing those that lost so much in the fire last year that we are here today just as we were last year, and we will continue to be here until the lives that were impacted are lifted back up and made as whole as possible again,” she added.

At the Kula event Thursday, Laura Manahan of Kihei said that one positive outcome from the fires a year ago was “an awareness that things do need to change, and things are changing on Maui.”

Manahan stood near a posterboard set up by Kula Community Watershed Alliance, which offered attendees space to share their dreams for the lands that burned a year ago.

“Time to thrive,” one person wrote.

“Never give up hope,” another wrote. “Maui strong.”

Courtney Teague contributed to this report.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.