Maui residents have faced a year of losses, hardships and uncertainty since the fires on Aug. 8, 2023. The deadliest fire in modern U.S. history killed at least 102 people and destroyed over a thousand homes and businesses.
To mark one year since the fires, Hawaiʻi Public Radio reporters reconnected with survivors we encountered in the days and weeks immediately after the fires in Lahaina and Upcountry Maui. We also heard from several new faces as they entered year two of rebuilding.
Keao Shaw
Lahaina boat captain Keao Shaw, his wife and their two children lost their home in the fires. Their property has since been cleared and scraped.
"My house is about 5 inches of ash. Anything that wasn’t steel is completely gone. Anything that you think, ‘Oh that could have survived.’ Everything is gone, gone, gone. Ash," he said.
Shaw has been separated from his wife and kids for the last year. They relocated to Oʻahu because the children's schools were lost in the fire. Shaw said they’ll all be back for good this summer.
He runs a small charter boat business out of Lahaina called Makai Adventures and a tour company called Kainani Sails. However, business has been slow.
Learn more about Shaw's journey from August 2023 to now.
Kahu ʻĀnela Rosa
Lay Minister Kahu ʻĀnela Rosa has been a part of the Waiola Church for over 40 years. She said part of the church property has been cleared and that their live-in caretaker can move back in next month.
HPR reached out to Rosa the day after the fire. She was stuck outside Lahaina but said all reports indicated Waiola Church was destroyed in the fire. As the one-year mark of the Lahaina fire approached, she recalled memories of that day.
"Everyone will probably go back to the moment, where was I that day? What was I doing? How far did I have to be or run?... And the families that lost loved ones, some families lost multiple people, I pray for them every day they in their own way find some kind of peace," she said.
Listen to and read more about Rosa and Waiola Church.
Tom Liu
Kula resident Tom Liu, 83, lost his home and his belongings in last year's fires.
Liu was born in Shanghai and traveled around the world for work before he and his wife built their home in Kula about 20 years ago.
"To me, the house is my wife. I said, 'You do anything you want. You can pick any color, you know, build it the way you want it.'"
One year after the fires, he's in the process of rebuilding. But his wife is not here to help rebuild; she died over a decade ago.
“The thing that you miss the most? It's all the things that my parents left me, all the photos that my wife and I [took when we] travel.”
He said he's glad one of his daughters is close by to assist.
Click here to read more about Liu's story.
Kahokule'a Haiku
For most of the past year, Maui resident Kahokule’a Haiku and his dog were living out of hotels and the back of his truck.
On Aug. 8, 2023, he survived in a parking garage in Lahaina for 14 hours.
“Thankfully, I had 5 gallons of water because I had a surf class early that morning, got canceled, so I had 5 gallons of drinking water in my truck. Thankfully, I had a snorkel mask. After an hour and a half in the fire, I couldn't even pry my eyes open," he told HPR.
After living at a beach park for months, Haiku recently became one of the first tenants of Hale ʻO Lāʻie in Kihei. The state purchased the building and converted about 175 rooms into housing for wildfire survivors.
Haiku said he’s grateful for the little things.
Click here to read and listen to the full story.
Charles Nahale
Charles Nahale lost his home in last year's wildfire on Maui. Like so many survivors, he was shuffled in and out of hotels and condos for months.
He finally got a call from FEMA in April telling him an apartment was ready for him. But it wasn't what he expected. Nahele didn't sign the contract, instead opting to wait for a better unit.
“I was heartbroken because I had waited so long to get out of the hotels into a place that has a kitchen," he said.
Finally, in June, he moved into a one-bedroom unit in West Maui where he said he's grateful to be. However, he worries about what’s next.
“There are thousands and thousands, over 7,000 or more of us, that are wondering what will happen when the contract with FEMA ends in the beginning of 2025," Nahale said.
Click here to read and listen to his year-long journey to secure housing after the wildfire.
Liko Rogers
Hawaiian language immersion teacher Liko Rogers is preparing as he usually does for incoming kindergarteners at Princess Nāhiʻenaʻena Elementary School. But this year is different.
Rogers said some Hawaiian immersion, or kaiapuni, families have relocated elsewhere on Maui, or have completely left the program. He currently has nine kindergarteners registered, but he expects that number to rise as the start of the school year nears.
Rogers is still pursuing his dream of uniting all Hawaiian immersion students in West Maui, from preschool through grade 12, on one campus.
Right after the fires last August, Rogers told HPR that time was of the essence for kaiapuni students to return to the classroom to maintain their fluency in an immersive experience.
Click here to learn more about his return to the classroom a year after the fire.
Isabel Quezada
Lahaina resident Isabel Quezada has spent most of the past year living in cramped hotel rooms with her six children, grandchild and dog.
The family has moved nine times since the Aug. 8 wildfires destroyed their home in West Maui. The 44-year-old single mother said she prayed to get into housing provided by the federal government.
Her prayers came true — her family has a kitchen, a yard and space for everyone.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency moved the family into a seven-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Kīhei about two weeks ago.
Although the Quezada family found a home, others are uncertain about their future.
Click here to learn more about displaced Lahaina immigrant families and the housing search.
Riley Coon and Keahi Ho
Lahaina tour boat company owners Riley Coon and Keahi Ho have been working out of Ma’alaea Harbor while Lahaina Harbor is out of commission.
Coon, the third-generation co-owner of Trilogy Excursions, lost one boat in the fires.
"It was the boat that me and my dad sailed across the ocean from Oregon. We had her built when I was 13, and when I saw that boat sitting with all the other boats in what used to be a parking lot on land, it was hard to describe," he said.
Coon said he was thrilled to hear that the Lahaina fuel dock was reopening for business this week.
Ho is a Lahaina firefighter and the owner of GungHo Sailing. He and his family lost their home and their boat in the fire.
"My company is newer, but my daughter was working for me, and she's kind of the third generation. Hopefully I get to pass a torch onto her. Been around for a long time, looking to stay around for a long time," Ho said.
He also spoke to HPR in February about his experience fighting the blaze and navigating life afterward.
"People that I know that are still in the hotels that still don't have that stability, I can tell just by talking to them, just by looking at them, how ungrounded they are and how stressed they are," Ho said previously.
Click here to read and listen to this story.
Alex Chapman
Lahaina resident Alex Chapman, 32, lost her job as a restaurant manager at Fleetwood's on Front Street when it burned down in August 2023.
After the wildfires, she signed up for free equine-assisted therapy sessions through The Spirit Horse Ranch, led by Paige DePonte. For Chapman, horse therapy has been a constant in a world of uncertainty.
“Though it may be hard on the day-to-day, I'm very, very proud to still live on the west side and still live in Lahaina,” she said
This story was produced by Tori DeJournett and Sophia McCullough.
