'Everything is gone': Hawaii residents share harrowing escape from wildfires

MAUI, Hawaii − Jordan Saribay can't shake the image of his beloved hometown, Lahaina, Hawaii, engulfed in flames. But he's fortunate he and his family escaped the inferno alive, having merely lost items that can be replaced − including his home.

As Saribay fled wildfires raging across the island of Maui late Tuesday, he saw his own home and the home of his grandmother engulfed. Walls of flame "as tall as the buildings" and debris turned into dangerous projectiles surrounded him at every turn.

"Everything is gone, every single one of our family homes," Saribay said. “The entire Lahaina Town and the entire subdivision of Lahaina – gone."

Wind-whipped wildfires scorched the main heart of Maui, reducing homes and businesses in historic Lahaina Town to ashes and forcing people to jump into the ocean to escape the flames and smoke. At least 36 people have died.

The flames grew much faster than anyone could have imagined. In a few hours, the wind-driven blaze tore through popular Front Street and decimated a town center that traced its roots to the 1700s and was on the National Register of Historic Places.

Getting out of the danger zone made for a surreal journey as he tried to find an unclogged escape route amid blistering heat.

"While driving through the neighborhood, it looked like a war zone," Saribay said. "Houses throughout that neighborhood were already on fire. I’m driving through the thickest black smoke, and I don’t know what’s on the other side or what’s in front of me."

When he made it out, Saribay felt a pang of emotion seeing Lahaina in his rearview mirror, wondering what would be left to go back to. "Just praying that a miracle happens," he said.

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'This fire – it just hit so fast'

Heidi Denecke, owner of the Maui Animal Farm, spent Tuesday night awake in her truck at her farm in Lahaina watching the fires with friends before being evacuated early Wednesday.

"It was very, very frightening. We all sat together and watched (the fire) because we were concerned about the animals," Denecke said. "You can't sleep during those times."

Denecke and her neighbors spent Tuesday evening attaching phone numbers on their horses' backs in case they had to be let loose. Once she was evacuated, Denecke drove six cages of bunnies and guinea pigs to the Hawaii Animal Foundation.

"I was standing at the top of my driveway and (the fire) was right below us and it was so frightening," Denecke said. "This fire − it just hit so fast, and it devastated a lot of people. We didn't really get a chance to get things set up because it came on so fast."

The animal farm has survived the fire, but the roofing was torn up, Denecke said. She doesn't know the extent of the damage because she has not been allowed back to her farm.

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'Everything was burning'

Beatrice Hoopai drove for hours in the middle of the night trying to find shelter before ending up at the Warm Memorial Gymnasium. She, her husband, disabled son and two infants were living at Ka Hale A Ke Ola (KHAKO), which is low-income housing, in Lahaina waiting to be told to evacuate as the fires were approaching. A friend told Hoopai a nearby transformer caught on fire and to leave as soon as possible.

“We packed up what we could and left,” she said. “KHAKO didn’t turn on their evacuation, we didn’t know we were going to be evacuated. Nobody told us nothing.”

The family got in Hoopai’s car and started driving but kept going around in circles as roads were closed. Branches were catching on fire and tin roofs blew past the car, she said. “You could see black smoke, the flames, everything was falling down,” she said. “If you looked back in the mirror, everything was burning.”

Hoopai has lived on Maui for her entire life and just moved to Lahaina in May. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this.” Tourists, she said, can lose their luggage but still return back to their homes. But local residents lose their homes.

She’s worried about what’s next now that the shelter is gone but she’s thankful for her family’s safety.

“You can lose everything but you cannot replace a life," she said.

Contributing: Minnah Arshad, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hawaii wildfires: Victims, survivors recall 'frightening' escape