Volunteers distribute food, water, ice, household goods and a lot of aloha at the Lahaina Gateway distribution site Wednesday. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos
LAHAINA — Kahele Alipio and her family fled her ill-fated Lahaina Surf apartments “to wherever there was blue skies” as the fire approached and the town was choked with dark smoke on the afternoon of Aug. 8.
The group of adults, Alipio’s 16-year-old sister and her 5-year-old niece had tried to escape by car, but “there were embers flying over the cars and all of the stuff on the side of us was catching on fire,” she recalled on Wednesday.
Someone in the car tried to put out the fire, which was consuming little leaves nearby. But when a tree next to them caught on fire, they decided to abandon the car.
“We just jumped out” and ran in opposite directions, Alipio said.
“Because it was so dark, I lost my sister and my niece.”
Red Cross volunteer Ashley Inciong of Kihei shares a welcoming smile with a driver while helping direct cars at the Lahaina Gateway distribution site Wednesday morning.
Her sister and niece headed down toward Baby Beach, where a woman let them use her phone so they could reunite with Alipio at Mala Wharf. Eventually the seven family members who were with Alipio were reunited at the Lahaina Civic Center shelter last week.
“We’re OK,” Alipio said, as she and a friend who also lost her home filled out applications to get a duplicate license at the county’s Division of Motor Vehicles and Licensing Lahaina Satellite Office at the Lahaina Gateway Wednesday.
The satellite DMV office on Wednesday began assisting West Maui residents whose Hawaii driver’s licenses or Hawaii state identification cards were lost or destroyed by wildfires.
Alipio was among the many West Maui residents trying to recoup important documents, collect much-needed supplies and make sense of the past few days as they stopped by the Lahaina Gateway Center, which is serving as a distribution hub.
Alipio was staying with friend Lani Basques and her family. They initially were at Basques’ grandma’s house in Kahana, which housed 30 people immediately after the fire.
Lahaina resident Poblito Yabo contemplates a question Wednesday while waiting in line at the Lahaina Gateway distribution site.
Basques said she and her sister lost their apartment units at Kaiaulu o Kupuohi. Her father lost his home and her mother also lost her home, both of which were along Lahainaluna Road.
“We took the back roads because all the roads over here were packed, people couldn’t get out,” Basques said of her escape from Kaiaulu o Kupuohi.
“People were coming into Lahaina and trying to leave Lahaina. All cars were just at a stop. So we took this back road all the way to Hawaiian Homes. We had to like break one of the locks because all the gates were locked and that’s how everyone was coming out, through the back roads,” Basques said.
After the loss of their homes, the friends are also uncertain about their future employment. Alipio works at Honolua Surf Co., which burned. Basques works at Old Lahaina Luau — she says she thinks the facility is OK but is not sure when it could reopen.
On Wednesday, access to West Maui via Honoapiilani Highway from Maalaea through the Lahaina Bypass reopened to the public, after officials limited entry to West Maui residents or pre-approved deliveries of supplies in the initial days after the fire.
The roadway will now be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. to motorists, but will be limited to residents, first responders and employees of West Maui from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Around mid-morning Wednesday the traffic on the pali was minimal. The words “Lahaina Strong” were painted on both sides of the tunnel along the pali. Police as well as unmarked police cars were posted all along the bypass to prevent people from stopping or parking. Access off the bypass heading makai and into the burn areas was blocked off.
Traffic got heavy near the Lahaina Gateway, where a plethora of services and help were being offered, including medical care and supplies of water, food, personal products — even toys and books. There were also fresh goods such as milk, loaves of bread, lettuce, bananas and strawberries packed in brown grocery bags ready to go.
A line of cars snaked around the Lahaina Gateway parking lot waiting for supplies.
Some of those folks included Pablito and Sheila Yabo, who came to pick up water and food.
“Helps a lot,” Sheila Yabo, who worked at L&L in Lahaina town, said as they waited in line with others in their vehicles.
Yabo did not lose her home, as they live above the Lahaina Bypass, but said many family members did. The couple was picking up supplies for family members who now don’t have a car due to the fires.
“We need to help them,” she said.
Some medical services were also provided Wednesday. On hand at the Maui Health tent was Dr. Vijak Ayasanonda, who is the director of the emergency department at Maui Memorial Medical Center and is serving as “disaster coordinator on the ground” for Maui Health.
He said there were around 20 people who needed hospital care over the weekend through Tuesday at the tent. Some patients needed further treatment for burns, OB care, surgical emergencies, diabetic emergencies and high blood pressure emergencies. Normally some of these conditions would not need hospital treatment, but some patients did not have medication on hand, Ayasanonda said.
“Everyone who lost their medicines never got a refill and you could not leave,” he said. “If they had a car they were afraid they would get stuck.”
Access in and out of West Maui after the fires has been sporadic and limited.
Ayasanonda gave kudos to local pharmacies like Mauliola Pharmacy and Wailea People & Paws Pharmacy for handling and transporting prescriptions.
Also helping out at Lahaina Gateway with the Maui Emergency Management Agency was Traci Bean of Wailuku, who was born and raised in Lahaina. Her daughter, Kendra, was also assisting.
“It’s tough,” Bean said of seeing the survivors who have gone through so much, including some that she knows.
She said people have come through the donation line very emotional.
Bean, who is with Hawaiian Canoe Club, said members also came out early after the fire and went door to door in West Maui to help.
The day after the fire, she and her husband made 350 Spam musubis to give to firefighters and people at the hospital.
“I never made a Spam musubi in my life,” she said.
State Rep. Elle Cochran, a lifelong West Maui resident whose House district includes Lahaina, was also helping with Cajun Navy. The New Orleans-based group of volunteers provides immediate rescue and relief during natural disasters, according to their website.
Cochran said the organization has lots of experience handling these types of responses. She advised nonprofits to log their volunteers and their hours, which could make the organization eligible for payment from the federal government.
Cochran said her home at Kanakea Loop is OK and has been helping out every day with relief efforts. She and others are running supplies to those still living in her neighborhood, including the elderly. However, she said it was tough at times to drive to the area, with multiple agencies staffing roadblocks.
“I’m very heartbroken and devastated,” said Cochran, at times through tears. “It’s this trauma but I’ve had to kind of stifle these emotions and keep my wits about me to keep standing strong for the people in the community is what I’ve been doing, just keeping one foot in front of the other, keep my head down … keeping my nose to the grindstone helping people is what we’ve all been doing.”
* Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at .
- Volunteers distribute food, water, ice, household goods and a lot of aloha at the Lahaina Gateway distribution site Wednesday. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos
- Red Cross volunteer Ashley Inciong of Kihei shares a welcoming smile with a driver while helping direct cars at the Lahaina Gateway distribution site Wednesday morning.
- Lahaina resident Poblito Yabo contemplates a question Wednesday while waiting in line at the Lahaina Gateway distribution site.
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