Maui's historic landmarks are in danger as wildfires rip through island
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The lush town of Lahaina was once the royal capital of Hawaii, and it is steeped in Hawaiian history dating as far back as 300 years. But officials say the deadly and unexpected wildfires that have ravaged the island of Maui in the past day have decimated Lahaina - raising fears about the fate of cultural landmarks beloved by the people of Hawaii.
A one-of-a-kind, 150-year-old tree. A missionary home thought to be the oldest standing house on Maui. A Buddhist temple. All are among the sites feared lost or damaged in the fires, which killed 53 people.
Undoing the devastation will "take years," Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke (D) said Wednesday in a news conference.
Firefighters were still working late Thursday to contain the fires, which began overnight Tuesday and traveled faster than expected across Maui because of strong winds from Hurricane Dora.
Lahaina, a town of about 12,000 people on Maui's western coast, attracts tens of thousands of tourists per year - and visitors and locals alike have been mesmerized by the giant banyan tree off Lahaina Harbor that rises 60 feet, sheltering those who sit on benches under its winding branches.
But on Wednesday, officials feared the tree - which conservation experts believe is the largest of its kind in the United States - was scorched by the fires.
In a satellite image from Maxar Technologies of the tree during the fires on Wednesday, it appeared to be standing but severely burned.
According to the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, the tree was planted in 1873 to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Protestant mission in Lahaina. Over the years, residents have helped the tree to grow symmetrically by hanging water-filled jars on specific aerial roots.
Kaniela Ing, a former member of Hawaii's House of Representatives, tweeted an image of the damaged banyan tree and called it "a tragic symbol of the climate emergency." (The image could not be independently verified by The Washington Post.)
Ing told NBC News that, before it was destroyed by fire, Lahaina provided a window into the history of Hawaii and its people.
"If you start from one end of Front Street and walk to the other end, it's like a physical timeline of the history of the Hawaiian Kingdom," Ing told the outlet. "You can actually see the flow in the buildings stemming back 150 or more years. It's remarkable and just the thought that that history may have been lost in this fire or any bit of that history is heartbreaking."
On Wednesday, a local conservation group told The Post that the Baldwin Home Museum, the oldest house in Maui and a historic treasure to the town of Lahaina, may have been destroyed in the wildfires.
"Everything we have seen on others' social media seems to indicate that the Baldwin Home Museum did indeed fully burn," Kimberly Flook, deputy executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, wrote in an email. She added that the organization, which manages the site, has not yet had a chance to survey its properties in person.
"Images and video show what may be walls standing, but all else gone," she said. The Post could not independently verify the extent of the damage to the building.
Meanwhile, the Maui News reported Wednesday that flames had engulfed the hall at Waiola Church - a mission that considers itself the first Christian Church on Maui and that celebrated its 200th anniversary in May - as well as a 90-year-old temple belonging to the Hongwanji Shin Buddhist community on Maui.
The Pioneer Inn, a Best Western property that was built in 1901, was also consumed in the blaze, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
The extent of the damage to various landmarks was not immediately clear. The State Historical Preservation Division of Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources did not immediately respond to a request for comment overnight Wednesday.
Other historic landmarks and sites around Lahaina include the Olowalu petroglyphs - images carved into the basalt cliffs of the Olowalu Valley by early Hawaiians as long as 300 years ago, according to the Hawaiian Department of Land and Natural Resources.
"It's a real loss. Hawaii and Maui have tried really hard to preserve and protect those places for many, many years . . . not for the sake of tourism but because it's part of our cultural heritage," state Sen. Gilbert S.C. Keith-Agaran (D) told USA Today, citing unconfirmed reports that several of Maui's most well-known landmarks were destroyed.
"We just lost a large part of our heritage," he added.
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