"Six miles that way is my house, and it's a whole other world."
Lahaina native ʻEkolu Lindsey has been living at the Kāʻanapali Shores Condo Resort for the last six months.
"You know, I never lived in a condominium before. I've never had central air conditioning before. I'm just appreciative of having running water, hot water and everything else," he said.
Lindsey lost his family home on Front Street in the Aug. 8 fires. He currently has until the end of May to find more permanent housing.
"I looked at a one-bedroom in Kahana that is converting to a long-term rental. And they’re a nice couple," he said.
"They told me FEMA was going to pay $8,900 a month. So I’m like wow. How much can I get from insurance? In this case, for me, it was $3,400. I couldn’t, I couldn’t offer $3,400 knowing they’re going to make $8,900. I just couldn’t."
Lindsey said if he doesn’t find a place by mid-April, he may accept the offer to move 22 miles away to Kaulana Mahina, an affordable housing complex in Wailuku.
Yvette Kitagawa of the Royal Lahaina Resort and Bungalows, said she has 526 rooms full of displaced residents.
"So we are the only property on the west side that is actually all displaced people, no tourists. Our owners have made the commitment to take care of our residents first. And currently, we're not taking any reservations till January 2025," Kitagawa said.
The Royal Lahaina has had to expand its laundry facilities, upgrade its gym equipment, and repurpose its conference rooms to make space for childcare, medical care, and government agencies like FEMA and the Red Cross.
"We want this to feel like their own little community. We want to have everything pretty much available for them here, you know, at the Royal Lahaina," Kitagawa said.
Lahaina boat captain Keao Shaw is back in business, just in time for whale season. One of his sailboats survived the fire, and he was able to repair his skiff to transport tourists.
"Our sailboat is up and running, and we are working with another company out of Mala at the moment. And that's only five days a week. I can't fully employ everybody not being able to work the weekends, so everybody is still trying to look for work," Shaw said.
His wife and kids are still on Oʻahu, where they plan to at least finish up the school year. But returning to their property in the burn zone will take years.
"I would like to rebuild there. That's where I want to be is West Maui. And I have neighbors that have already sold that I was hoping to live next to for a long, long time," Shaw said.
"A lot of them just don't know what they're going to do and what the time frame is of getting water and electric and everything else down there in the neighborhood to like, ever rebuild," he said.
For now, Shaw is staying in a fixer-upper home in nearby Honokohau Valley As for so many other residents of Lahaina, the timeline for his next steps remains uncertain.
