Hearts in Hawai'i
Lahaina Fire--One Year Later
8/8/2024
Over 2,200 buildings and homes destroyed. About 102 people killed. Many families displaced, their lives torn asunder.
These are some of the costs, real costs, of the wildfires which, aided by near hurricane force winds, ravaged the town of Lahaina, Hawaii on August 8 of last year. This town, which had at one time been the capitol of the Kingdom Of Hawaii, was reduced to a shell of its former self.
What wasn't reduced was the spirit of the people once living and still living in Lahaina. Despite their grief, many were and are determined to carry on, to rebuild. What that rebuilding will eventually look like is anybody's guess. Certain building codes mean that structures that close to the water (on the makai side of Front Street) would not be able to be rebuilt in their former spots. And they certainly wouldn't look as they had; this is probably a good thing considering these were mostly wooden structures. In essence, it was a disaster waiting to happen. This side of the island is very dry which contributed to the disaster.The quaintness of these wooden buildings eventually became a liability when the fierce winds, combined with a spark from a downed power line, ravaged Lahaina.
The island and this town came together in the aftermath but not everybody did. Some, for whatever reason or excuse, insisted (and still insist) on spinning baseless conspiracy theories. This primary "theory" had to do with space lasers causing the fire despite adequate evidence to the contrary. Eric West of Hawaii Real Estate was one of those suggesting this. He was given a pass by many due to his fundraising efforts but there eventually were questions regarding the dispersing of said funds. The Hawaii State Attorney General eventually was asked to investigate what appeared to be misappropriation of some of this money, much of it raised via a GoFundMe page. You can read about it here.
Scammers aside, I still vividly recall my reaction when I saw the first videos of Lahaina on fire that night. At first, I thought it was a joke--you know how Youtube can be! Once it was clear that this was no joke and was truly happening, my reaction turned to that of intense sadness.
But my thoughts and emotions then took a selfish turn. "Shit, Patty and I can't go back there, there is nothing to go back to!" in a Poor Little Tourist Me way.
When you visit a place eleven times as we have Maui, the idea that what you had gotten so used to seeing was now gone is hard to comprehend. It was made worse by the fact that, in all those trips, we had stayed in Lahaina and at the same condo (Lahaina Shores Beach Resort). We had grown to truly love the town. Walking up and down Front Street visiting shops, art galleries, restaurants--all that made for a homey atmosphere. Tourist trap? Sure, call it that if you must. For us, it was as close to a second home as we had ever found. True, we understood that, save for winning the Powerball, we'd never be able to make Lahaina our first home, but it was still fun to fantasize about. We'd walk Kamehameha Iki Beach, pointing to some of the nicer homes facing the ocean and wondering how much it would take to buy the owners out should we win the Powerball.  . I had come to understand that if Hawaii was Maui, then Maui was Lahaina and Lahaina was Front Street to narrow the focus of my adoration to this two mile slice of land alongside the Pacific Ocean.
What is happening now in Lahaina? Most of the lots have been cleared and sanitized of whatever toxins resulted from the fire. The first permits to rebuild have been issued. Nothing of note has happened at the Lahaina Harbor (basically the place which the town revolved around) and nobody knows for sure how long it will take to get things back to some semblance of normalcy in this area. As for the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort, the exterior was mostly untouched by the fire, although there is reportedly some smoke damage inside; more imporatantly, there may be structural damage from a good deal of water ending up in the basement of the hotel. If anybody knows what will happen to this wonderful resort, they aren't talking. So we don't know but I'm starting to sense the resort will never reopen. Nearly every structure nearby is gone now, including the Shops at 505 which used to lie next door to the L.S. Why would someone want to stay there in the near future and how long can this resort remain closed without the towel being thrown in on its future?
Without the Lahaina Shores and Lahaina, our desire to return is basically quashed. Sure, there are plenty of hotels and resorts untouched on Maui, but we don't care. Will we ever care? I'm not sure but I'm skeptical. There are other factors in play here, primary being the way costs have skyrocketed here. It has never been cheap to travel to Maui but lately it has become nearly absurd. From flights to hotel rooms to rental cars to activities, Maui has basically priced itself, not necessarily for us, but for many. For us, our issues have to do with what I've just related. We loved our trips to Maui (and in general, Hawaii) but have found other locations on the mainland these past couple years which are also quite nice and can be visited at a fraction of the cost. That is where we now choose to spend our tourist dollars.
What is happening now with me? It hurts. Still. With the ongoing pain and suffering of Lahaina residents in mind, it's difficult to fathom how a place which had always been there, no longer is, for all intents and purposes. All which remains are memories, pictures and video we shot while there. It will have to be enough in light of the fact that, however it is rebuilt, it will never again be the Lahaina we once knew and loved.
An early morning view of Front Street in 2009
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