It's been exactly one month since the wildfire blazed through Lāhainā, killing more than 100 people and displacing thousands.
For survivors of the fire like Lāhainā boat captain Keao Shaw, the past month has been spent apart from his family, in not-so-ideal living conditions, worried about the future of his family business.
Keao Shaw returned to Lāhainā Harbor a few days after the fire to check on one of his boats. He couldnʻt see it because it had sunk to the bottom. But he did see what remained of his house.
“My house is about five inches of ash. Anything that wasn’t steel is completely gone,” Shaw said. “Anything that you think, ‘Oh that could have survived.’ Everything is gone, gone, gone. Ash.”
Shaw and his wife, ‘Iwa, run a small charter boat business out of Lāhainā called Makai Adventures and a tour company called Kainani Sails. The Aug. 8 wildfires have put the couple’s business aspirations on hold. Shaw said he wants to get another boat and rebuild the business.
“But there’s a lot of questions on when we’re even going to be able to operate and if we’re going to be able to operate and how long that’s going to take to happen,” Shaw said.
The couple’s two children, 5-year-old Nāhiku and 3-year-old ʻOlina, were forced to relocate with ‘Iwa to Oʻahu because their schools were lost in the fire. Shaw pulls up photos on his phone — the first day of school, kids brushing teeth — small moments he’s missing while they’re apart.
“Talk to them every day,” Shaw said. “Luckily I got Starlink up here right now. That’s helped out a lot.”
For the last three weeks, Shaw has been sleeping on an air mattress in this shell of a house in Honokohau, about a half-hour drive from Lāhainā.
“It’s just empty two-by-four walls with electrical wiring exposed and solar outdoor lights inside,” Shaw said. “But it is a beautiful view of the ocean, and the river, and the valley. It’s such a special place.”
The couple bought this fixer-upper a year and a half ago with plans to renovate it one day. Shaw said the couple spent the last decade building their business. They even lived on their sailboat for several years to save money. The business began to take off just three years ago.
“I lived a charmed life for a couple of years. After all that 13 years of work, we finally got it,” Shaw said. “And now it's just like now I gotta start like all over again.”
Shaw said the sooner they can get people coming back to Maui, the better.
