Devastating, heartbreaking and unbelievable — those were the words 46-year-old Torie Hoʻopiʻi used as she held back tears describing the wildfire damage to her hometown of Lāhainā.
"It’s devastating. It's like something you would see out of a movie that you can't actually believe that's happening to your hometown. People fleeing for their lives, jumping in the ocean, as they're watching Lāhainā Town Front Street and the harbor being burnt," Hoʻopiʻi said.
"I'm just like, 'Oh my gosh, that's like our historical town.' The first capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom is... gone."
Lāhainā became the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the early 1800s. It was a time of tremendous change for the Indigenous people of the islands, said historian Ron Williams Jr.
"It was the site of the first constitution that transformed Hawaiʻi from an absolute monarchy into a constitutional one. So from the arrival of [Capt. James] Cook in the 1770s until 1850, this influence that affected Hawaiʻi and helped it transform to a constitutional monarchy was that capital," Williams Jr. said.
The early 1800s also saw the arrival of missionaries, who established the first Christian church in Lāhainā.
Waineʻe Church, now known as Waiola Church, celebrated its 200th anniversary earlier this year. Kahu Anela Rosa said all reports indicate the church has burnt to the ground.
"It's just the structure, you know, it's really the people that make the church," Rosa said. "Several of our families have lost their homes, including mine. Four of my family members lost their home in Lāhainā. We were fortunate.
"Our home is still standing. My nephew is trying to still douse it with water because the embers are flying all over the place. So it's an awakening," Rosa said.
The Waiola Church grounds are also the resting place of Hawaiian royalty, said Williams.
"That graveyard, you know, is the second royal cemetery. Keōpūolani, Nāhiʻenaʻena, Hoapili, his wife, Kaʻakua, the grandmother of the future kings. All of these folks are there. Rest there in Lāhainā. So that's another reason to kind of look for some hope to come out of this," Williams said.
Hoʻopiʻi said a number of cultural artifacts like capes and implements at the old Lāhainā Courthouse and Nā ʻĀikane O Maui headquarters are assumed to have been lost in the fire.
"Everybody was saying those are just possessions and artifacts, but they're not. They're not replaceable. After we've lost so much as a people, as a lāhui, so much was already taken from us. Just to know that we can't bring that back again. Oh, so, so, so sad," Hoʻopiʻi said.
There is a tremendous sense of loss from the damage caused by the wildfire and the histories that were taken with it.
"But I do also want to remind folks that Lāhainā is such a sacred place and such an important place. It has that mana and it has that power to resurrect itself as it always has," Williams said.
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