Photos: A Journey Through the Destruction From the Fires in Lahaina - The New York Times
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Wildfire damage in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Along the empty streets of Lahaina, the warped shells of vehicles sit as if frozen in time, some of them still in the middle of the road, pointed toward escapes that were cut short. Others stand in driveways next to houses that are now piles of ash, many still smoldering with acrid smoke.
A few agitated myna birds chirp from their perches on palm trees that have been singed into matchsticks, the carcasses of other birds and several cats scattered below them in the streets.
Across the town that was once home to 13,000 people, residents are slowly returning and sifting through the debris of their homes, some of them in tears, finding little to salvage.
In a neighborhood along the burned hillside, Shelly and Avi Ronen were searching the rubble of their home for a safe that held $50,000 of savings, left behind with the rest of their belongings when they fled the fire. They considered themselves lucky to have made it out at all: A man just up the hill did not survive, and neighbors told them that several children who had ventured outside to get a look when the fire was approaching were now missing.
“A lot of people died,” Shelly Ronen said, her voice breaking. “People couldn’t get out.”
As she spoke, her husband emerged from the rubble of the house with the safe in his hands, seriously charred, but intact. There were no signs of the key, so he bashed it with a rock until it broke open.
Inside it was a pile of ash.
In the wake of the fire that tore with stunning velocity through Lahaina this week, killing at least 67 people, much of the small, historic town was cut off for days from the rest of the island of Maui by downed power lines and police checkpoints. It sat in lonely desolation, the houses uninhabitable, the search for victims slowed by a lack of personnel and a growing conviction that no one would be found alive.
For centuries, Lahaina has been a focal point of Hawaiian history and culture, a former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom and a booming center of modern tourism that had managed to preserve its old-world charm. It was home to both vital relics that connected people to the island’s Indigenous history and a downtown of island-chic art shops and restaurants with astonishing views.
Now those treasures are gone, replaced by scenes that locals and officials have repeatedly likened to a war zone. As residents return to their homes, some are making reluctant but unavoidable plans for life elsewhere. With more bodies likely to be found as the searches continue, their town has become the scene of one of the nation’s deadliest wildfires of the past century.
It had all happened so fast, residents said. A brush fire Tuesday morning had been contained, but then fire flared up once again in the afternoon. Stoked by hurricane-force gusts of wind, it was soon rushing down the hillside through town, tearing across a drought-parched landscape with little to stop it until it reached the ocean.
At the shoreline, where the fire had run out of room, waves lapped up to beachfront properties that had few discernible features of a home — a singed mailbox, a metal gate, a water heater poking up through the debris. An orange cat slipped out from behind the husk of a vehicle and then darted away.
A man could be seen pedaling his bike near the waterfront, checking on the homes of people he knew. With no power and limited cellphone coverage, he did not how many people had died. When he learned it was in the dozens, he grew emotional, looking upward and blinking back tears.
Several blocks to the north, past the school buildings gutted by flames, the town’s prized banyan tree sat wounded, its leaves curled and crispy. Sitting alone below its inadequate shade was a man named Anthony Garcia.
When the fire began raging, some people had only minutes to flee, jumping into cars or simply running as fast as they could as the inferno spit embers onto their necks.
Garcia, 80, said he had been eating chips and salsa and sipping on a beer in a local restaurant when smoke suddenly began to billow through town. He made it back to his apartment to grab medications but then ran out of time. He sought refuge on a nearby baseball field. For what seemed like hours, he lay face down in the dirt, his throat burning, his skin baking. “It was like a sandstorm of heat and embers,” he said.
Somehow, the fire spared him. But with his apartment and all his belongings gone, he has been sleeping outside, unsure of where to go.
“I really don’t know what I’m going to do,” Garcia said. “I’m in God’s hands.”
On nearby Front Street, a small group of firefighters and work crews were moving debris to clear the roadway, but few were navigating through the broad devastation farther east. Many there said little help was being sent; locals had taken matters into their own hands, shuttling in water bottles in pickup trucks and gas by boat. Some drove cautiously through the streets, offering food or aid to those in need.
In the Lahainaluna neighborhood along the hillside, Lanny Daise, 71, pulled up to the house that had been built by his wife’s grandfather decades ago. Now it was a pile of twisted metal atop a charred foundation. As he navigated the debris, he kept stopping, sighing and taking photos on his phone. Nothing was salvageable, save for a couple of wrenches.
Two blocks farther up, Benzon and Bella Dres were hunting for jewelry and not having any luck. Their rented house was gone and they had lost everything. Bella Dres was wearing a pink shirt given to her by a manager at the hotel where she worked. For now, they were staying at another hotel where Benzon Dres worked, but, with no money or belongings, they were uncertain of the future. Eventually, they stopped searching.
“Everything’s gone,” Bella Dres said.
As they drove away, traveling past downed power lines, Felina De La Cruz and her family were arriving at a house nearby, a property with multiple units that was home to 17 people from four families. De La Cruz said that when they moved from the Philippines to Lahaina two decades ago, they knew upon arriving that it was where they wanted their home to be. It was a community where everyone took care of one another, she said.
The neighborhood, perched on a hillside with a picturesque view of the town, the waterfront and the sunsets beyond, had a different view now: De La Cruz looked out on nearly a mile of charred homes below, the smoke still rising into the sky and casting a haze over the town.
Nothing was clear. With no belongings and no permanent place to live, it was a mystery where she and her husband would go with their three children. When would anyone be able to live here again?
“It’s so, so sad,” she said. “I love this place. I love Lahaina. I want to live here. But, I don’t know.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
A Honolulu Fire Department responder looks down at a dead dog in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, two days after it was devastated by wildfire, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Go Nakamura/The New York Times)
Dead birds piled near Lahaina Banyan Court in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An ad-hoc group of volunteers loads supplies to be flown into the nearest airport to Lahaina in Kapalua, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
Wildfire damage along the channel of the Kahoma Stream in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Anthony C. Garcia, 80, who has lived in Lahaina for 25 years, rests under a damaged banyan tree at the Lahaina Banyan Court after a wildfire swept through in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 202. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
The destroyed King Kamehameha III Elementary School, where classes were supposed to begin on Aug. 9, in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A smoldering section of dock at Lahaina Harbor in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A neighborhood destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Honolulu Fire Department responders in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, two days after it was devastated by wildfire, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Go Nakamura/The New York Times)
Buildings destroyed after a wildfire swept through in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
People waiting for departing flights at Kahului Airport on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where at least three wildfires have been raging, in Kahului on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
The Allen family of Utah waits for a flight at the Kahului Airport, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
An aerial view of buildings burned by wildfire near the waterfront in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
A neighborhood destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A fire-damaged banyan tree in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A helicopter dropping water on hot spots near burned homes in Kula, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
Local resident Anthony Garcia rests under a fire-damaged banyan tree in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A neighborhood destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A man with a bandaged leg looks at the damaged loading dock on the waterfront after a wildfire burned the area in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A humanitarian aid distribution point in Kahului, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An aerial view of an area of undamaged building and buildings burned by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
An ad-hoc group of volunteers prepares supplies to be flown in by small plane to the nearest airport to Lahaina in Kapalua, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
A helicopter douses hot spots with water after a wildfire burned several homes in Kula, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
Margo Graziano comforts a rescued cat in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, two days after it was devastated by wildfire, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Go Nakamura/The New York Times)
A damaged mailbox after a wildfire swept through in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A truck driving past a destroyed hotel in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An aerial view of dry land on mountains outside of Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
Destroyed buildings and cars along the oceanfront in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, the day after the town was devastated by a wildfire, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Go Nakamura/The New York Times)
An aerial view of undamaged buildings inland of the burned waterfront areas of Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
A damaged mobility scooter after a wildfire burned the area in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A couple walks past buildings destroyed by wildfires along Front Street in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Barbara Wiener using a flashlight to search for a friend’s cat in Kula, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
A building destroyed by wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A coastguard helicopter passing over damage caused by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An elevator shaft remains where a building was destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
The gutted Kamehameha III School in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, the day after the town was devastated by a wildfire, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Go Nakamura/The New York Times)
A coastguard helicopter passing over damage caused by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A neighborhood destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
The Allen family of Utah waits for a flight at the Kahului Airport, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
People waiting for departing flights at Kahului Airport on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where at least three wildfires have been raging, in Kahului on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A neighborhood destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A fire-damaged banyan tree in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An aerial view of buildings burned by wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
Firefighters spray water on a hot spot caused by the wildfires that passed through Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An aerial view of buildings burned by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
An aerial view of the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort stand amid buildings burned by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
The rear wall of a building open to the sea on Front Street after a wildfire swept through in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Destroyed homes and cars in a neighborhood on the southern end of Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Mike Baker/The New York Times)
Residents Jeff and Patricia Hedlund try to recover belongings from rubble at where their apartment once stood in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, two days after it was devastated by wildfire, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Go Nakamura/The New York Times)
An aerial view of the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort standing amid buildings burned by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
A fire-damaged boat floating off the coast in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Traffic clogs the highway leading to Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
Residents Sarah Salmonese sits where her apartment once stood in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, two days after it was devastated by wildfire, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Go Nakamura/The New York Times)
A neighborhood destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An aerial view of buildings burned by wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
Barbara Wiener using a flashlight to search for a friend’s cat in Kula, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
A neighborhood destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An aerial view of cars that were in traffic and burned by wildfire on Front Street in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
A neighborhood destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Pine and fruit trees with significant fire and wind damage on a hilly area near Olinda, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Mitch Smith/The New York Times)
People waiting for departing flights at Kahului Airport on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where at least three wildfires have been raging, in Kahului on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Residents of Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, comfort one another two days after it was devastated by wildfire, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Go Nakamura/The New York Times)
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and boat amid wildfire damage in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An aerial view of the Lahaina Banyan Court, left, and buildings burned by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
An aerial view of an old smokestack standing amid buildings burned by wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
Nikki Yasuda and Max Miranda, right, wait on the floor at the Kahului Airport, on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
An aerial view of buildings burned by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
A damaged mailbox after a wildfire swept through in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A neighborhood destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An anchor sits amid burned ruins in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, two days after it was devastated by wildfire, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Go Nakamura/The New York Times)
A swimming pool amid burned buildings in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Downtown Lahaina, Hawaii, a trove of history for local residents, on March 25, 2020. (Tony Novak-Clifford/The New York Times)
An aerial view of burned grassland after wildfires passed through in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
A neighborhood destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Burnt palm trees after a wildfire swept through in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Paper towels being loaded onto a truck at a humanitarian aid distribution point in Kahului, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Newlyweds Tanya Nathan and Jason Podolnick, who arrived at the Hotel Wailea in Maui for their honeymoon two days prior, waiting for a flight to Seattle at Kahului Airport, in Kahului, Hawaii on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
People wait for their flight out of Maui at Kahului Airport after wildfires ripped through the island, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An aerial view of buildings burned by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
The remains of the Wharf Cinema Center Shops after a wildfire swept through in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An aerial view of buildings burned by wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
Workers passing a fire-damaged banyan tree in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An aerial view of buildings burned by wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
The Lahaina Shores Beach Resort stands amid wildfire damage in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
A family waits for their flight out of Maui at Kahului Airport after wildfires ripped through the island, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
An aerial view of a home that stands untouched by flames amid buildings burned by wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Max Whittaker/The New York Times)
A person surveys the historic town of Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, two days after it was devastated by wildfire, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Go Nakamura/The New York Times)
A destroyed ferry in the water off the loading dock in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Wildfire damage at Lahaina Harbor in Lahaina, Hawaii on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
People waiting for departing flights at Kahului Airport on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where at least three wildfires have been raging, in Kahului on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Philip Cheung/The New York Times)
Tags
Who is online
411 visitors
The buildings are barely recognizable as buildings.
News reports this morning say there are hundreds of people still missing. Some will never be found as they may have been consumed in the fire.
A horrible catastrophe, there are no words to describe it. Over the years Red and I visited Lahaina many times and always stayed at the Pioneer Inn, a historic hotel well over 100 years old and it housed one of our favorite restaurants as well. I dug out photos we had of vists there, how sad to see them and then see today, there is nothing left at all.
The people and their pets need all the help they can get. The Maui Animal Shelter is overwhelmed and asking for any type of help one can give, food, blankets, crates or to foster an animal. The medical needs for the animals right now are overwhelming. Pay it forward if you can.
The latest death toll is now 80.