LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) 鈥� They have for mementos, worried about , questioned their faith and tried to find a way to grieve amid the great, unsettling devastation. Residents have faced a year of challenges, practical and emotional, since in a century decimated the historic town of Lahaina, on Maui, on Aug. 8, 2023.
To mark the anniversary, The Associated Press interviewed seven survivors its journalists first encountered in the days, weeks or months after the fire, as well as a first responder who helped fight the flames. Among their difficulties, they also have found hope, resilience and determination: who has helped others deal with post-traumatic stress; with a new appreciation for the sunsets from Lahaina; the aspiring to become a Maui firefighter himself.
Here is a series of vignettes examining some of their experiences over the past year.
Coping and staying
Even as he from the flames, Thomas Leonard knew Lahaina鈥檚 wildfire was going to give him flashbacks to his service as a U.S. Marine in Vietnam 55 years ago. The exploding cars and propane tanks sounded just like mortars.
鈥淏oom, boom, boom, boom, boom 鈥� one car after another," he said.
The nightmares started a few months later. His Veterans Administration doctor prescribed new sleeping medication.
鈥淭hank God for the VA,鈥� he said.
The 75-year-old retired mailman learned to identify signs of post-traumatic stress disorder at a VA clinic in 2001, helping him spot and cope with new triggers. He鈥檚 also helped fellow fire survivors.
鈥淚鈥檝e learned to be a really good listener on that with other people, what they鈥檙e going through,鈥� he said.
His condo building is still a pile of ash and rubble. Leonard suspects it might take years to rebuild, but he鈥檚 determined to see it through. He鈥檚 been living in hotels and a rented condo.
鈥淲e all got to stay together here on Maui," Leonard said. "We鈥檙e going to survive and it鈥檚 going to come back.鈥�
Memories of gold
After Elsie Rosales arrived on Maui from the Philippines in 1999, she scrimped on a salary. As she saved up enough to buy a five-bedroom house in Lahaina in 2014, she did allow herself a few luxuries: gold bracelets, delicate hoop earrings, things she could never have afforded if she remained in the Philippines.
Like the home 鈥� her pride, her American dream 鈥� the jewelry was a reminder of what鈥檚 possible in the U.S.
It all was wiped out in the wildfire that destroyed Lahaina. When she finally was allowed back on the property, she dug through the debris for anything that survived. All she found was a broken bangle.
She used insurance money to pay off the mortgage on the house. She鈥檚 now renting a two-bedroom apartment with her husband, their son and their son鈥檚 girlfriend in Kahului, an hourlong bus ride from Lahaina.
On those long commutes, she reflects on how she amassed her jewelry collection, only for it to vanish.
鈥淲hen I鈥檓 not working, I keep thinking about everything that burned,鈥� she said. 鈥淓specially my jewelry. Everything that I worked hard for.鈥�
Missing the mana
Surfing off his Lahaina home always gave Ekolu Lindsey 鈥渕ana,鈥� spiritual energy. The house was in his family for five generations.
He鈥檚 so familiar with the area he notices when more crabs are around or fish are undersized. He has brought school groups there to , seaweed and the ocean.
鈥淢y reset button is to jump in the water at home,鈥� he said.
That has been impossible since the wildfire turned his house to rubble. His property is now clear of debris but has no electricity or other utilities. Reconstruction is well off.
He鈥檚 living at a friend鈥檚 place on Oahu, another island, a plane ride away. He couldn鈥檛 find anything in Lahaina for less than $4,000 a month.
He returns regularly to Maui to help restore native forests, a focus of the nonprofit his father founded, Maui Cultural Lands. Sadness weighs on him as he drives the winding coastal highway to Lahaina.
State conservation officials won鈥檛 allow people to enter the ocean from the burn zone. He surfs on Oahu, but it鈥檚 not the same.
鈥淵ou get the physical exercise,鈥� he said, but not the 鈥渞ejuvenation of that mana.鈥�
The right track
As he was dying of colon cancer, Mike Vierra spent sleepless nights fretting about where his wife, Leola, and their daughter would live when he was gone. The wildfire had of more than half a century to hardened pools of melted metal, burned wood and broken glass.
By the time he passed away in April, the answer still wasn鈥檛 clear.
Leola Vierra and her daughter moved multiple times after the fire, switching hotel rooms and vacation rentals whenever the unit鈥檚 owners would return.
鈥淓verything was so unsettled,鈥� she said.
The Vierras, married 57 years, also couldn't find their beloved cat, Kitty Kai. But in February, they learned Kitty Kai had found her way to Kahului, 30 miles (48 kilometers) across the West Maui Mountains.
The reunion, while joyful, complicated their housing search. Landlords are less likely to rent to families with pets.
Not until last month did Vierra find some stability, securing a six-month lease while they wait to someday rebuild on their own property. Their new place has a yard, a sundeck and an ocean view.
鈥淚 have been so depressed ever since my husband passed, and I can feel my mind and my memory all going downhill,鈥� she said. "With this new home, I think I will be able to accept more things now, because it seems like I鈥檓 on the right track.鈥�
Cherishing sunsets
As the flames approached, Ai Hironaka and his family 鈥� wife, four children, French bulldog 鈥� and drove off, leaving behind their home and the Japanese Buddhist temple where he was resident minister and caretaker.
Losing those buildings and being uprooted amid the greater devastation has tested him as a Buddhist. How should he behave as a disaster victim? What is the appropriate response when someone gives him donated clothing he doesn鈥檛 want? If he feels ungrateful, he turns to the teachings of his religion.
鈥淲e all have an evil nature, self-centeredness,鈥� he said.
After moving three times in the months after the fire, he now lives across the island, nearly an hour away, at another temple, Kahului Hongwanji Mission, where he also serves as resident minister. He performs much of the same work he did at the Hongwanji Mission in Lahaina: leading ceremonies and counseling members, including fire survivors.
He returns to the site of the Lahaina temple occasionally to check the columbarium, an area for storing funeral urns, which survived. He misses the town, the beach parks, the parents on his son鈥檚 .
And he misses the sunsets from Lahainaluna High School, overlooking the ocean. When he goes back now, he does not take that view for granted.
鈥淚 have to capture that,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ecause I cannot see this tomorrow."
From football to firefighting
Before the fire, Morgan 鈥淏ula鈥� Montgomery was a kid who loved playing and paddling in the ocean. College wasn鈥檛 on his radar.
But the University of Hawaii offered full-ride scholarships for Lahainaluna High School graduates at any school in its system following the disaster. Montgomery thought, 鈥淲hy not?鈥�
He plans to leave Maui this fall to study fire science at Hawaii Community College on the Big Island, inspired by the devastation and the firefighters who tried to save the community.
鈥淚 want to come back to Lahaina and come back to Maui and try to be a firefighter,鈥� he said.
Montgomery鈥檚 family lost their two-bedroom apartment to the fire, but also found opportunity. Montgomery and fellow Lahainaluna football captains were invited to the Super Bowl in Las Vegas this year. It was one of just a handful of times he has left Maui.
After spending time in a hotel, the family secured a rental house about an hour drive across the island. It's not convenient for his canoe paddling practices in Lahaina. But it鈥檚 the biggest house they鈥檝e lived in, with five bedrooms, enough for his mom and her five children.
He鈥檚 a little nervous about leaving Maui but grateful for the scholarship.
鈥淎n opportunity for school or free tuition is something you鈥檝e got to take advantage of,鈥� Montgomery said.
'That's what we do'
Ikaika Blackburn, an 18-year veteran of the , talks often with his crewmates about the blaze that consumed Lahaina: at the fire house kitchen table, over cups of coffee while waiting for calls or during family gatherings on days off.
His five-person crew was one of the first on the scene. There was no time to think, "no time to have these sentimental feelings,鈥� as he fought through the night. He spent a lot of time growing up with his grandparents in Lahaina. His wife is from the town. His mother-in-law lost her home.
At daybreak, it set in: 鈥淲e lost Lahaina.鈥�
Blackburn and his crew spent days talking about it, 鈥渏ust releasing it and not holding it all in,鈥� he said. Recalling how they rushed from one part of town to the next, trying to find a way to stop it.
鈥淔or the most part, we鈥檙e able to always win," he said. "We鈥檙e always able to get ahead of it.鈥�
But this fire was different, uncontrollable. Firefighters and investigators from outside Maui helped him understand that his crew did all they could.
Blackburn followed his father's footsteps as a Maui fire captain. Firefighting feels like something he was born to do.
And he has kept doing it. This year鈥檚 busy brushfire season hasn鈥檛 triggered memories of last August, he said, because nothing compares to that fire.
鈥淲e respond to fires all the time,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we do."
Lahaina Strong
When wildfire struck, Jordan Ruidas couldn鈥檛 sleep. Eager to help families in the 21 homes that burned, she started a Facebook fundraiser titled, 鈥淟ahaina Strong,鈥� which raised more than $150,000.
That was in 2018.
Five years later, Ruidas and Lahaina Strong again emerged as leaders, pushing officials to control tourism and try to find enough housing for local residents after the 2023 fire destroyed thousands of buildings.
Ruidas was seven months pregnant when last year鈥檚 fire destroyed Lahaina. She sometimes missed prenatal checkups. Traveling nurses at community hubs for fire survivors would check her blood pressure.
The fire spared her neighborhood and two months later she gave birth at home to a daughter, Aulia.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I鈥檝e dealt with all the emotions that came with losing Lahaina and being postpartum,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 feel like I cope by staying busy with work, with Lahaina Strong.鈥�
Ruidas brought the baby along, strapped to her chest, when she helped organize a at a popular beach resort demanding more short-term rental housing be made available for survivors.
She still hasn鈥檛 been able to bring herself to visit the burn zone.
鈥淢y kids will never grow up seeing or knowing the Lahaina that I grew up seeing and knowing,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he Lahaina that we lost was a very special and beautiful place.鈥�
___
AP videojournalist Manuel Valdes contributed.
Jennifer Sinco Kelleher And Audrey Mcavoy, The Associated Press
