Fire in Hawaii through the eyes of an eyewitness: a Russian-speaking tourist ended up in Maui during a disaster

Sergey Bystrov and his family flew to Hawaii from California just a couple of days before the devastating fire, as a result of which the city of Lahaina on the island of Maui burned out almost completely. He witnessed these terrible events.

Photo: IStock

Deadly Forest Wildfires in Hawaii claim lives already 96 people and forced thousands of people to evacuate. huge fire destroyed much of the historic city of Lahaina on Maui. Over 2700 buildings destroyed. This fire has already become the deadliest U.S. wildfire in over a century.

By an amazing coincidence, Sergei stayed at a hotel literally 5 km from Lahaina, and only this short distance saved the life of him and his loved ones.

Before the disaster

Sergei recalls: on Monday, August 7, a strong wind rose, and in the evening the electricity went out. Soon he received a text message from the airline: the return flight, scheduled for August 12, had been cancelled.

“I bought tickets through a fairly cheap company headquartered in Austria. The Internet was already intermittent, and I called her office directly on my mobile. I was able to book a new flight for Friday 11 August. Only later did I realize how fantastically lucky I was: in just a couple of hours, the mobile connection disappeared completely, and I would no longer be able to book new tickets, ”he says.

Photo: Sergey Bystrov

As it turned out, the electricity was gone due to a hurricane that damaged power lines. The next morning he was still gone. Rumors reached Sergey that the situation was better on the other side of the island. As a result, the family decided to go to Lahaina, stock up on food and products, and then go to a favorite place for tourists - to see the volcano in the local Haleakala National Park.

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“It was only 5 km to the store, but we drove to it for an hour and twenty minutes, because the traffic lights did not work without electricity. As a result, at each intersection it was necessary to stop and let cars through, the flow of which was huge. We then stood in line at the store for an hour as people rushed to buy groceries. Cash registers did not work without electricity, and food was sold only for cash, preferably without change. Cards were not accepted, ”recalls Sergey.

After spending several hours buying water, the family changed their minds about going to the park and headed back. As it turned out later, this decision was also fateful.

“The city burned down four hours after we visited it. If we had gone to the volcano, we would not have had time to return until the evening. There was only one way back, only through Lahaina. After the fire started, it was completely blocked, the police set up roadblocks. Driving through the conflagration was out of the question. We would have been cut off from the hotel, where all our things were left, ”the tourist explains.

However, instead, Sergei and his family returned to the hotel, not yet knowing that the terrible elements followed them literally on their heels.

Fire

The real causes of the fire are still unknown, but Sergei suggests that it was the power outage that was to blame.

“Since it was almost impossible to buy food, people began to cook food on the grill, that is, on coals. But the hurricane wind immediately overturned the grills, and the coals flew at the houses. The city burned down almost instantly, and there was no way to warn of a fire because the mobile phone was still not working. There were only 23 fire trucks in the whole city, but they could not do anything in a situation where two thousand houses were burning at the same time, and the fire was carried by a hurricane wind. The wind was blowing towards the ocean, and everything burned out in this direction, including even the boats moored near the shore, ”says Sergey.

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A terrible element raged just 4 km from their hotel. Tourists were incredibly lucky that by the time of the fire, the wind had changed its direction - during the day it was blowing north, but in the evening it shifted towards the ocean. Otherwise, there would have been many more victims.

Photo: Sergey Bystrov

“A couple of days later, on the way to the airport, we drove through the city and saw entire blocks burned to the ground. Some cars simply melted into a puddle of metal, and the streets were black, like in Hiroshima. I am afraid that the true death toll is much higher than the official figures, because the remains of people are simply impossible to identify in this ashes. We were told that people, fleeing the fire, jumped into the water, and cars exploded behind them. Many simply drowned, ”says Sergey.

The morning after the tragedy

About what happened in the evening and at night, the inhabitants of the hotel learned only the next morning.

There was still no light and communication, and many had already run out of gas. Some stores still sold food that did not have time to spoil strictly for cash.

“Many people were crying because they didn’t have cash with them. Usually Americans do not take paper money with them when they travel. We, according to Russian habit, took cash with us, and I even had to give money to some people. When we were charging our phones at the generator, one person literally almost cried. He had small children, they were hungry, and it was impossible to buy food with a card. I gave people at least $20,” Sergei shares.

Soon the food ran out in these stores too. On the second day after the fire, volunteers began to appear who cooked porridge right on the street and distributed it to people. Then the first refugees from Lahaina appeared.

“At first they didn’t want to settle them in hotels, but then they began to settle them in vacant rooms. There was nowhere for people to go: there was only one road, and it was all littered with charred debris and pieces of electrical wires. Soon, volunteers and soldiers of the National Guard appeared, who began to clear it at least in the direction of the airport. On the second day, I was already afraid that gasoline might be drained from our car - we couldn’t get it, and there were a lot of people who wanted to leave, ”recalls Sergey.

Way home

On Friday, the family finally left for the airport. Those leaving were warned that they would not be able to go back - cars were not allowed to go in the opposite direction.

“The airport was quite small, but on that day there were at least a thousand people in it. These days, hundreds of people just lived at the airport. There they were given blankets, pillows, water, some rations, since absolutely all the hotels on the other side of the island were overcrowded with refugees,” says Sergey.

Photo: Sergey Bystrov

Usually the fast border control took two hours that day. Sergey admits: seeing that he was late for his flight, he ran around the airport, pushing others and shaking tickets. The family managed to get on their flight two minutes before it closed.

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“It really is reminiscent of the Apocalypse. We are all so accustomed to the Internet and cell phones that we are absolutely lost when we are without them. People simply did not know what to do, where to turn. When the food ran out, we had to eat up the leftovers, dry rations. All this was really scary, ”summed up Sergey.

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