How Californians are helping Hawaii residents cope after the deadly Maui wildfire
North State residents who once faced perilous wildfires themselves are now reaching out to people on Maui most affected by the deadly Lahaina Fire.
“My heart goes out to those people. I know what they’re going through,” said Dean Fender. The Chico resident lived in Paradise until the Camp Fire destroyed his home, his business and flattened most of his town on Nov. 8, 2018.
The Camp Fire killed 85 people and held the ignoble moniker of most deadly fire in the United States in over a century — until wildfire spread over Maui on Aug. 8.
Pushed by winds up to 80 mph from Hurricane Dora, the fire has killed at least 111 people as of Thursday, Aug. 17, according to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green. That number could double or triple by the time smoke clears, Green said.
Watching events unfold on television is deja vu for residents of Paradise and Concow in Butte County, said Fender, who is copresident of the Rotary Club of Paradise.
It looks just like Paradise during the Camp Fire: “Cars stalled on the road and burned. There are a lot of similarities” between the fires. Both spread very quickly by winds, there was “very little warning” for people in both fires’ paths, and many people were trapped or had a hard time getting out, he said.
Fender was Rotary board meeting when Camp Fire broke out, he said. “At 7:15 a.m., someone said, ‘There’s a fire in Concow,’” about eight miles west of Paradise over steep terrain. By 8 a.m., houses were burning on his street, Fender said.
He and his wife evacuated, but were trapped in their car, inching along in traffic on the only road out of town. “We sat there for four to five hours,” surrounded by flames, Fender said.
Now he measures life by what happened before and after the fire, he said.
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“We retired and are living in Chico now, but...all our friends have stuck together, and we’re determined to see things get back to normal, Fender said. "Our town is rebuilding, as will Lahaina.”
Fender and his fellow Rotarians are helping people most affected by Maui’s wildfires, he said. His club posted information on their website at https://paradiserotary.org/ about giving to Hawaii’s Rotary district for fire relief.
Rotary clubs around the world donated $2.1 million to help the people of Paradise get back on their feet after the Camp Fire. “We’re gathering money” to help Maui rebuild, “just as they did for us,” Fender said.
Those who needed help become helpers
Other Californians who survived wildfires are helping people on Maui cope.
On July 26, 2018 ― three days after sparks from a trailer scraping the road ignited brush in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in Shasta County ― the Carr Fire exploded, flattening most of the small town of Keswick and burning neighborhoods in west Redding and Shasta Lake. The blaze created fire whirls, one of which jumped the Sacramento River into Redding.
The fire displaced 40,000 people, more than a fifth of the county's population, including Kalie Brisbon.
“We were afraid the fire would run up the Sacramento River Valley” to Shasta Dam, said Brisbon, who evacuated her Shasta Lake home near the dam. She and her family of six adults and six children checked into a Redding hotel. Hours later, they evacuated their room as the Carr Fire advanced. With most of the area’s power out, they drove north from Redding in pitch darkness while ash rained down on the highway.
Days later, United Way of Northern California offered financial assistance to Brisbon, her family and other evacuees and those who'd lost homes in the fire. “We'd wiped out our savings. It (the money) helped recoup some of our losses;” but even more important, it “showed that somebody cared and there was help out there when everything was scary and overwhelming,” Brisbon said.
Six months later, remembering the kindness of their staff, Brisbon took a job at United Way’s Redding office. “It was an opportunity to help in the community in a meaningful way,” she said.
Now the agency’s senior director of programs, Brisbon is part of an effort to gather donations to help people on Maui who are in the same situation she was five years ago. United Way of Northern California sent $15,000 to United Way of Maui and is gathering donations on its website: norcalunitedway.org, Brisbon said.
The agency also sent staff to Maui to help. People who went through the Carr Fire have experiences and knowledge that could aid the people there, said Brisbon. Staff from Redding also is able to to support United Way leaders in Maui who were personally impacted by the fire, Brisbon said.
“It’s little things, like knowing how many people are needed to best serve at the disaster resource/recovery center” that can make coping easier, she said.
Indigenous people turn disaster assistance into community cohesion
On Aug. 14, 2018, while the Carr Fire continued to rage in Shasta and Trinity counties, North State Native Americans welcomed four firefighters from Hawaii and 17 from American Samoa who came to help.
The Redding Rancheria Native American tribe celebrated the Hawaiians' arrival with prayer, food, drumming, dancing and spiritual singing at Redding Rancheria’s cultural arbor.
“When we first heard they were coming” to help fight the Carr Fire, “we wanted to reach out to them. It’s traditional protocol when you have guests in your land,” said Jack Potter Jr., Redding Rancheria tribal chairman in 2018.
During the five years that followed, members of Northern California Tribes visited Maui and also welcomed the Indigenous people of Hawaii back to their homes at the north end of the Sacramento Valley, Potter said on Aug. 15.
Potter made annual family trips to Lahaina, some with his grandson. “We visited the banyan tree,” he said. The 150-year-old living symbol of historic Lahaina was badly scorched by the fire, but still stands, according to a story published in USA Today.
More: Tribes call on spirits to give Hawaiian, Samoan firefighters strength to fight Carr Fire
When the fire spread over Maui, Potter and his family felt his friends’ pain. “We’re devastated,” he said.
The tribal council of the Redding Rancheria will meet on Tuesday, Aug. 22 to discuss ways to help Hawaiians cope and rebuild their lives, Potter said. He’s not sure if help will be strictly financial or include other forms of relief. But he promised the Rancheria would post links on its website to reliable charities or collect funds for relief itself. Look for those links next week at reddingrancheria-nsn.gov, Potter said.
Jessica Skropanic is a features reporter for the Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. She covers science, arts, social issues and news stories. Follow her on Twitter @RS_JSkropanic and on Facebook. Join Jessica in the Get Out! Nor Cal recreation Facebook group. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today. Thank you.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: California groups helping Hawaii residents after Maui wildfire
