Lāhainā resident Mindi Cherry recently returned to her home in ruins. She and her husband sifted through rubble, searching for her wedding ring — but all they found was ash.
It's almost been one week since the wildfires that engulfed the historic Maui neighborhood were hot enough to explode open her fireproof safe. She said sentimental items such as baby books and family photos are gone.
"There's absolutely nothing left," Cherry said. "We naively thought that we would go and be able to search through rubble and find things. But our whole neighborhood is destroyed."
The first-grade teacher found what was left of her classroom at King Kamehameha III Elementary School in the same condition. The building was charred from the fence to the cement structure and the roof.
"It's completely gutted. It's unusable," Cherry said. "All of the portables are gone. All of the classrooms — the windows were blown out."
Cherry is one of over 50 educators who had lost their homes or suffered damages from the fire. The Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association is still gathering data on how many public school teachers are displaced from their homes.
The survey revealed at least 71 teachers on Maui offered to help their colleagues.
On Sunday, the teachers union unanimously approved allocating $150,000 to the Maui disaster relief for teachers who lost their homes and classrooms to the wildfires.
While special education teacher Justin Hughey lives in Wailuku, the wildfires destroyed his Lāhainā classroom.
Hughey said his biggest concern is getting teachers into immediate housing.
"We're all trying to figure it out, and we're all doing it on our own," he said. "I think that's what it takes. Everybody needs to just focus on what they can do to help individually because not enough help is happening."
Hughey has taught at the century-old elementary school for 17 years. He said that wildfires are nothing new to him and that they have been worsening for years.
"I was expecting a fire because it was dry, and it just takes one person throwing a cigarette out the window for the whole side of the mountain to go," he said.
Last week, three wildfires broke out in three locations on Maui: Lāhainā, Pūlehu and Upcountry Maui. So far, 96 people have been killed, declaring it one of the deadliest fires in U.S. history.
Three wildfires occurred on Maui during Hurricane Lane, including near Lāhainā and the Kīheī area. Hughey said the last fire in 2018 came close to Lahainaluna High School.
Hughey said he feels for the teachers who lost their homes and expects the number of displaced colleagues to grow.
"These are teachers that probably had their house handed down to them, who were barely able to make it, and now it's all gone," he said.
Cherry and her family had lived in their home for 13 years. She was able to escape Lāhainā with her husband, children and dogs.
They are currently staying in Wailea and plan to live there until the end of August. Whether she can find permanent residency or return to work is unclear.
"I feel like the DOE is probably still trying to figure out what to do about that situation as well as who left the island," she said. "Who's still here? There hasn't been a lot of communication."
"Even to find out if we have had school or not," she continued. "There wasn't a callout, but we couldn't get in anyway. So we were getting emails, but it's hard also to check your email. It's a situation where nobody really knows what to do."
The Hawaiʻi Department of Education announced that most public schools on the island will resume this week. Meanwhile, Lāhainā schools remain closed as the department assesses damages.
Both Hughey and Cherry have not heard from their students.
"Honestly, focusing on getting kids in the classroom is just not what should be focused on right now," he said. "It should be food, water, shelter, and connecting with them. Then you have to get into the counseling and emotional aspects of how they deal with this and the loss of family."
For additional coverage on the Maui wildfires, see below:
