Maui Fires

 It's so eerily familiar.  The confusion, traffic jams, devastation and destruction.  We were in Maui just about a month ago where we stayed at Napili Point, which is just north of Lahina.  We have been taking family vacations there for 30 years and have had many Christmas card photos with the parrots under the infamous banyan tree in Lahina.  My son and husband used to take fishing excursions from a boat that left from the little harbour there.  

I'm getting off track.  When we were en route to the Kahahui Airport on our return trip, I was taking a look around and mentioned to everybody in the car how dry it was and ripe for a fire, as I recalled there was a fire on Maui not so very long ago.  The grasses were so dry.  I then took a look at some power lines in the distance and thought to myself it would not take much as the winds were relentless our entire trip and there was not a hurricane to blame. 

Oh well, come back to Sonoma County and resume my life and mundane routine.  We all have a tendency to get quickly absorbed into our own lives with our heads in the sand oblivious to the bigger picture.  Ignorance is bliss.

We were in Minnesota visiting family when the news broke out about the town of Lahina being destroyed.  What?  Really?  Nobody knew at the time how awful it was about to become.  I had flashbacks to the Tubbs Fire in 2017 that destroyed our old neighborhood in Coffey Park including the house we used to live in.  

We are the lucky ones.  We were never personally impacted by the Maui Fires nor the Tubbs Fire.  However, we know so many people who lost their homes and in some instances their lives.  

I feel sooooooo sorry for the Maui fire victims.  There are so many people there we know and their stories are heartbreaking.  Some poor bastards who survived the Tubbs Fire also got caught up in the Maui Fire as so many people from Sonoma County visit Maui.  

I'm scheduled for a work trip to Ka'anapali the first week of November.  I don't think it will happen.  Hotel space is needed for emergency personnel and to house the victims.  Besides, I really don't want to be there pretending everything is normal and having a grand ol' time while the entire island is still in ashes and shock.  I think it's disrespectful. 

We did make a monetary donation and plan to help from the mainland.  Let's face it.  They really don't want a bunch of us haoles over there.  For those unfamiliar with Hawaiian slang, a haole is a white person (not a compliment in case you're wondering).  

The below video is from the Tubbs Fire when firefighters were not even sure of the impact and nobody knew what was going on and the devastation that was unfolding right in front of them.