Neighbors come together amid destructive blaze in Upcountry Maui
Aug. 13—Related Photo Gallery: Neighbors come together amid destructive blaze in Upcountry Maui
KULA, Maui >> Residents of Maui's Upcountry are still reeling from blazes that destroyed homes around the mountain community of Kula — the other area of the Valley Isle dealing with the aftermath of devastating wildfires.
On Tuesday it became one of three locations hit by the destructive mix of dry conditions, high winds and fires that have devastated Maui. As of last report, county officials said that the Lahaina fire was 85% contained, the Pulehu/Kihei fire was 80% contained, and the Upcountry Maui fire was 50% contained. On Saturday officials said that they are continuing to extinguish flare-ups and working to contain the blazes.
The tragic Lahaina fire burned the historic town to the ground and has become the deadliest natural disaster since statehood as the number of confirmed fatalities mount.
As firefighters continue to battle the flames in Upcountry, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Pacific Disaster Center released maps Saturday showing the extent of the damage and burned areas for the Lahaina fire at an estimated 2,207 structures damaged or destroyed; 2,719 structures exposed; and 2,170 acres burned.
For Kula, the estimates were 544 structures exposed and 678 acres burned, but there was no estimate of structures damaged or destroyed.
"The only count we got on the damaged homes in Kula is two," Maui County spokesperson Mahina Martin told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "Structure damages for us have not been easy to get. There were three sites on fire and were rapidly moving, all of our crews were not keeping track of numbers."
When the Star-Advertiser visited Kula, considerably more than two homes had been destroyed. Smoke still rose from the charred remains of several houses and stretches of burnt wilderness. But the destruction was scattered.
Kula resident Lambert Ho'opi'i said his home suffered only minor wind damage while several of his neighbors' houses were nothing more than charred husks. Though several homes on his block were destroyed, most still stood.
"We were watching as the fire jumped off the bridge," Ho'opi'i recalled. "We were super fortunate because we have great neighbors ... they were here side by side with the firefighters."
"We're fortunate because we have a standpipe right in front of our house," he explained. "So the firefighters left the big hose for them and a (water) cannon, and it was dousing all over our homes for us. Literally the neighborhood saved the neighborhood from more destruction."
As Ho'opi'i recounted his experience to the Star-Advertiser, he and his daughter were hauling a wheelbarrow down their street to help neighbors move debris from their yards. He said he had friends coming up with trucks and trailers to move larger pieces.
After the winds subsided and much of the fire was suppressed or burned out, county workers and Upcountry residents began working to clear downed power lines and trees. But larger ones still lined stretches of road, limiting traffic to one lane.
At several points along the roads, power lines were visibly entangled in tree branches, including several that had burned. Downed power lines have been cited as a contributing factor in the historic fires across the island.
The fires began Tuesday morning while strong winds from Hurricane Dora, which was moving south of Hawaii, battered the islands. At 6:37 a.m. the Maui Fire Department received a report of a brush fire near Lahaina around Lahainaluna Road. At 9 a.m., MFD declared the Lahaina brush fire 100% contained, though the department also warned that continuing high winds would remain a threat for the next 24 hours.
The department then began to shift more resources to the Upcountry fire, which at the time was larger.
When the fires began, Eleanor Worth was at the Kula Sandalwoods Inn & Cafe, which has been owned and operated by her family for more than 30 years. Perched on the side of the Haleakala Highway at an elevation of 3,300 feet, on a clear day the inn has views of Molokai and Lanai, Mauna Kahalawai and the valleys below.
But on Tuesday morning, Worth was hunkered down with her husband, sister and brother as high winds howled outside, blowing tree branches and other debris across the hills. She recalled that "we heard a crash, we heard something fall like a huge tree, and my sister ran outside. She saw smoke coming up."
Worth said after the loud sound their power was out. Soon the flames were visible.
"(The fire) came up from the gully next to our neighbors, and they were trying to put out the fire by themselves before the fire department came," she said. "We flagged people down, the fire department came and assessed it, then a couple of fire engines came. And then more came."
She estimated as many as five fire trucks arrived and spread out across their neighbor's property and on the Haleakala Highway. She said firefighters fought courageously against the scorching fire for hours. But despite their determined efforts, the combination of wind and flames proved relentless.
"I looked to our neighbor's property and it was like lava," said Worth. "The fire jumped the highway and it went down the gully, and it took out homes along there and along here in front of us."
By 11 a.m., firefighting crews from several towns and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources had converged on the Upcountry fire, but wind gusts reaching 80 mph made conditions unsafe for helicopters.
At 3:20 p.m., more Upcountry neighborhoods were evacuated and authorities began urging people to leave. In a Facebook post on the Upcountry evacuation, Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Giesea warned "the fire can be a mile or more from your house, but in a minute or two, it can be at your house."
Around the same time, the Lahaina fire had escaped containment and forced the closure of the Lahaina Bypass road by 3:30 p.m.
Social media attention turned from Upcountry back to Lahaina at 4:29 p.m., when Hawaii Emergency Management Agency posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the local Maui Emergency Management Agency had announced an immediate evacuation for an inland subdivision in Lahaina. Residents were directed to shelter at the Lahaina Civic Center on the north side of town.
As darkness fell and the flames continued to rage, the firefighters told Worth they had to shift resources elsewhere and had to leave — and advised that she leave too. Worth said her brother and husband got on the roof of the Sandalwood and used hoses to douse cottages, enduring the strong winds that Worth said almost blew them off roof.
"They only had hoses, you know, like, regular household hoses to take out fires along the property line," she explained. "And then they got a power washer out ... and then the (water) lines melted. It might have been maybe 9:30-ish or 10 ... when we couldn't get any more water."
A police officer drove up the highway with a loudspeaker telling everyone to evacuate. Worth and her family reluctantly left, with Worth believing she had lost a place she considered both her home and their livelihood. When Worth returned Wednesday, miraculously most of the property still stood even as surrounding properties were burnt to a crisp. But it won't be reopening anytime soon.
"We're gonna need help," said Worth. "The structures are still up, but we can't operate because all our infrastructure is down — the electric, gas, water — hopefully we'll get some water because the pipes are melted up above us to where we get the water."
On Friday the Maui County Department of Water Supply issued an unsafe water alert, saying both the Upper Kula and Lahaina systems experienced wildfire impacts due to the destruction of structures and loss of water pressure in some areas, which may have allowed harmful contaminants — including benzene and "other volatile organic chemicals" — to enter the system. They are currently testing the water.
Officials are urging people not to drink tap water or use it for cooking and are also stressing that boiling, freezing, filtering, adding chlorine or other disinfectants, or letting water stand will not make the water safe. The county has set up water buffalo tankers for people at the Kula Fire Station, Kula Community Center, Harold Rice Park, Crater Road, Copp Road, Keokea and at the at Lahaina Gateway Shopping Center.
Worth said the community has been supporting her family and that neighbors have come by to help clear debris. She also said that over the past several days, residents have been filling their own water tanks and dousing hot spots up and down the Haleakala Highway.
Rancher Maile Masada, who has 12,000 acres in Kula, said she has continued to try to protect her property from the fires in Upcountry.
"We've been trying to create fire breaks and contain fires there," said Masada.
But she has also been busy at the Oskie Rice Event Center, a rodeo and event venue that her family owns in Makawao, which has turned into a support hub for Upcountry relief efforts. "We have hot lunches that are being delivered starting at 11, and then we have meals going all the way till the evening for those that need it, whether they're workers or displaced families," she said.
Masada is also opening up the property as a shelter for animals, including those from ranches on the West Side. On Friday, she said she was preparing to take in her first wave of horses coming out of West Maui.
"We have trucks and trailers that went over to pick up whatever's there, and I'm bringing them here," she said. "So we're housing animals that don't need immediate care, and then those that may need some medical attention are going to be directed to the state animal quarantine station ... and then Humane Society is taking the small animals."
Even as the Upcountry community pulls together and counts its losses, most residents there said the tragedy in Lahaina is on their minds. Though several in Kula have lost their homes and the road to recovery is uncertain, so far none lost their lives and neighbors have been taking care of each other.
Despite the MFD's declaration that it had 100% contained the Lahaina fire Tuesday morning, by nightfall it had swept across dry grassland and engulfed the historic town and killed at least 93 people. Though Kula residents say they want their story told, they also want to see Lahaina residents get all the help they can possibly get.
"We feel really blessed because these buildings are still standing," Worth said, motioning to her family's property. "We thought we would come back to ashes literally, because when we left it looked like the whole place was on fire ... compared to people in Lahaina? We we didn't even know what's happening to Lahaina until like the next day, because we were so busy up here trying to put the fires out."
The lack of cell service in West Maui after the fire has left many in Upcountry anxious about loved ones who were in Lahaina.
"I got some missing friends and family still yet not accounted for," said Ho'opi'i. "My family is from Kahakuloa on the Northwest side of the island. There's OK cell service there, and they've been running out back and forth and helping, but there's definitely a lot of need out there."
------
The Associated Press contributed to this story
