Maui is on fire.. literally :(

[TallDude]

Very scary and sad new from Maui. :'(
https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/ap-hawaii-wildfires-burn-homes-and-force-evacuations-while-strong-winds-complicate-the-fight/

[Admin]

Shocking and disorienting to see the west side like this.  https://twitter.com/i/status/1689384898958917633

[LaPerouseBay]

I lived in a house in that video, at 1:37 about a half block from the water.  From '98 to '05.   Very very happy time in my life.  Every house in that neighborhood (and so much more) appears to be burned to the foundation.
   

I was driving home to Kihei, from work in Napili, yesterday, at 1:45.  I was on the road you can see directly behind my old house about a block from the water.  (Fire started about 3 or 4 hours later). 

The traffic was stop and go, we were all trying to get to the Lahaina bypass, one more stoplight.   Power lines had been down at that intersection all morning, crews were working to fix them, cops everywhere in a windstorm like you wouldn't believe.  So, as we are inching along, the wind is whipping 60+ out to sea.  Shredding the foliage, leaves flying thru like snow.  Coconuts rolling across the road.  When I finally made the light, it was smooth sailing, everyone zooming to get the hell out of West Maui.
 
That wind is what torched the town.  I shoulda taken video of the water as I left town.  I've never, ever, seen the ocean shredded like that.  From Puamana to Maalaea was as white as I've ever seen any ocean water.  It was on par with the crazy shit on video from Cape Town South Africa.  Typical 40+ wind has occasional curtains of spray zooming across the water.  This water was another level.  Those curtains were everywhere, near and far, nearly constant. Grandma's surf break had head high breakers and they had some mighty long streamers out back.  Blazing blue sky and sunny.  Out about a mile offshore was like an invisible fog bank going up thousands of feet.  All water torn off the ocean. 
 
Brutal to see the video now, that was one fine town to live in.  So much history.  So many old time local families, churches, schools, museums, homes etc. etc. That town truly had character.  All gone.  Many dead.  Just terrible.  I moved there from Cape Cod.  I marveled at the similar buildings, all due to the whalers from back in the day.  So much history preserved there Old boats, you name it.  All gone.     

So I finally get home after a trip to Costco and Office Max, at 5:30.  Starving, exhausted.  Try to sleep, too frazzled from a stressful day at work and that freaking wind.  About 10pm I smell smoke.  Phone is on sleep, so I didn't get the alarm.  I go online - my neighborhood (maui meadows) is being evacuated.  Fire on the way.  That explains the traffic at midnight.  So, I go out on my deck and see the glow.  I say fuck it.  I'm too tired.  If it gets close I'll grab my snorkel and hide in the pool.  I'm too fried to mess with traffic.  I check the wind and the glow a few more times then doze out about 1:30.  Dumb luck got me thru that fire.  If the wind had switched to more NE, I coulda got the bum rush from the cops.  I didn't lose anything but some sleep.  Real bad here.  Not looking forward to driving thru my dear sweet Lahaina, burned to the ground.   :'(     

[Admin]

That is a crazy account LPB.  Hard not to well up watching that video.  That special place was the spirit of a lot of awesome people.  Shoot.

These satellite images show the completeness of the damage. 

https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/yw7tHAOq
 

[Admin]

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[LaPerouseBay]

Watching the last video in this article puts a new perspective on it for me.  The electric company guys are driving around, as the town burns.  One of them shoots a bit of video.   

That morning, our owner (client) stopped in to visit, about 6:30am.  The power was off.  We are doing a remodel on one of his homes up in Napili.  He had been driving thru Lahaina and told us he saw a string of big power poles, 4 or 5, tipped over.  I thought to myself, this power ain't coming back on anytime soon.  How can a worker go up in a bucket in this wind? 

So, as I'm driving into Lahaina that afternoon - almost to the exit for the Lahaina bypass - I see the reason for the slow traffic.  Sure enough, those electric worker guys are scrambling around, repairing that line of poles that had been down all morning.  Cops all over the place, directing traffic.  I think to myself "Jeebus, those are some rugged bastards'. There was a lot of stuff flying around in that wind.   

So, in the video, there are those guys driving around in bucket trucks about 4 hours later.  I was home by then, moaning and groaning about how tired and hungry I was.  Those guys just saw the whole town burn to the ground.  What do they do now?  Everything is broken. Everything. 

https://mauinow.com/2023/08/10/lahaina-front-street-photo-journey-west-maui-wildfire-aftermath/

[Dusk Patrol]

Sad in so many ways.  As Maui has developed Lahaina was always there as the old soul.  It's still there, true. I hope the banyan tree recovers. That would give people a boost.   

[LaPerouseBay]

I had a look at the power outage updates from MECO, wondering how things are going.  Power is out from the tunnel to Honolua Bay.  Literally the entire west side.
 
That rabbit hole led me to this early video of the day the Lahaina fire started.  The reporters are commenting on other fires, but briefly mention the Lahaina fire's early stages. 

It's a 7 minute video, the Lahaina fire is just starting.  It's visible from 0.19 to 0.30.

You can see the wind on the water.  It was like that all the way to Kihei.  It was even stronger right in Lahaina.

The big river valley above Lahaina is a funnel for wind.  Olawalu is famous for that extra boost of wind velocity too.

I rode a motorcycle to work back when I lived in Lahaina, commuting to Kihei.  Some mornings the wind was knarly, but never like that day.  That's how I learned about those canyon winds. 

There's a spot just after the tunnel, when you are curving around to Maalaea when the wind switches direction.  Hard left to hard right, in an instant.

It surprised a tourist on a Harley one day and he went over the guardrail, down the cliff.  I passed that accident just after it happened.  I wasn't sure what had happened until I read about it in the paper.  Traffic was kinda slow, but moving.  Cops were not around yet, but the Harley was there, parked normally on it's kickstand. The people walking around had a very somber attitude. Turns out the rider was just married and his wife was following in a car.  She saw him go over the cliff.  When the trades are blasting, the wind is knarly on the back side of that mountain.

 https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/08/08/strong-winds-knock-out-power-thousands-statewide/



 

[LaPerouseBay]

The video in this clip is my usual commute, from 0.20 to 1.00.  It's where I described the 60mph wind blasting the foliage and creating a snowstorm of leaves.  That section of road used to be like a tunnel of green, you couldn't see the houses on the left or right.  They are all burned to the ground now.  I lived on the right side of that road from '98 to '05.  The death toll will probably be up in the hundreds. Last I heard the list of missing persons was over a thousand.  Part of that is the lack of communication, but it's gradually coming back. 

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[SlatchJim]

Wife's cousin and her family lost their house (albeit a rental).  Escaped with little more than the clothes they wore.  She just had enough time to warn a few neighbors that were sleeping still.  Very close but her, her husband and 4 kids all are safe, and that's what counts.

[supthecreek]

Lahaina has always held a mystical place in my heart since my first days of surfing...
I have been following this since the first flickers.... so truly devastating.

I can't even begin to imagine the horror for all those trapped in town... and what the loss of that town will do to the soul of all islanders.
Sadness and hugs to all affected.

[LaPerouseBay]

Three of the plumbers on our project live in Lahaina.  All 3 are ok.  1 home survived, other 2 are "nothing but white ash."  The homes lost were both a stone's throw from the banyan tree.  As with so many others, they basically grabbed a cellphone and dashed.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66465570

[LaPerouseBay]

Here is a video of the town from up above.  It helps illustrate how much grassland burned.  It helps me understand the overall nature of where it may have started and eventually spread.

They opened the bypass Wednesday, from 6am to 10pm to allow access to west Maui, so I've been driving thru.  Tremendous loss to the islands.  I'm going to miss Lahaina.  It's all like a bad dream.     

[clay]

Of the tragic events that have happened in my life Lahaina is the first place I was familiar with and have a connection to.

The first thing I noticed is how hidden from view the devastation is and how one could visit and not even know something horrible happened.