It was a moment in history that will forever change Maui residents, especially those in Lahaina and Upcountry.  The recent fires on Maui, not only obliterated an entire town, but destroyed homes and devastated families.

Rosabell Gaud, a forty-year Kula resident and her family experience this first-hand. “We could see the black smoke coming from the West Maui mountains,” recalls Gaud, “I thought it can’t be! That cannot happen, but it did.” 

  As Maui residents watched powerline collapses caused by the early morning fire that raged through the town of Lahaina, residents watched in terror as the flames continued to spread.

 Due to the power outage, all of West Maui and Upcountry Maui lost power.  Fire damage may have impacted the water system during the fire.  ”The power was out,” Kula resident, Zane Haskell. “I was so scared and at the end we ended up praying and no one got sleep that night thinking the blaze was gonna wipe us out in our sleep just as it did so many others.”

Residents in both locations watched as the Maui Fire Department worked diligently to put out the fires. “They were trying to see if they can get water from Wailuku side;” explains Gaud, “but it was not set up, so they could not send any water over there.

The fires quickly spread as residents watched in disbelief., “These fires were going up towards us which alarmed us,” adds Gaud, “but we had two fire engines at the bottom of each street.”

Many landmarks were also lost in the fires.  I thought Kula Lodge went up in smoke, but it didn’t,” said Gaud.  “It was the houses across the street and further down.” Many people lost their homes and lives.  Although the death toll continues to be updated, at this time “it is up to 97 and they’ve identified 77,” says Gaud.

So many people lost so much and Gaud’s neighbor was one of many that day who lived on a property which lost several smaller cottages on their property that day.   “They had this house they were going to renovate that was built in the 1800’s…. and it went up in smoke,”  shares Gaud.  “When he came back to see the house he was renovating, he just broke down in tears.”

Despite all of the efforts made by emergency officials and residents, “there really was nothing we could do to ensure the fire didn’t hit us, except pray and hope,” recalls Haskell. However, despite all of the difficulties Maui’s people endured that day, they remain hopeful and committed to restore what was lost.  “You have to be grateful for what you have because the things people went through, it just doesn’t go away.”

For many, despite everything they endured, they remain grateful for what they still have and also for what they’ve lost.  It’s “the feeling of home and that one comfort place you love so much,” Haskell says with a heavy heart,  “where you made so much memories just being taken from you in the blink of an eye.  Life is really short and there’s so much that can happen and the fires showed me that.”