In a small square in Lahaina, Anthony Garcia struggles in vain against the ashes. For three days, on the sidewalk where tourists are used to crowding, he has been piling up dead branches and the corpses of animals killed by the flames, sweeping away the traces of the fire. “It’s hard to take it,” says this 80-year-old man, observing the ruins of this Hawaiian city that has brought him “so much joy”.
Originally from California, he came to Lahaina for a weekend in 1993, and never left. He has now lost everything. An employee of a residential building on the island, Anthony Garcia rents an apartment near a tourist street, known for its bars, restaurants and trinket shops. Of all this, nothing remains. The flames, which killed at least 89 people, engulfed guitars, documents, sheet music and memorabilia. “It took everything, everything! It breaks my heart ! »
Wind and drought
Like him, residents, still in shock, are just beginning to see the extent of the damage left by the blaze that broke out in the middle of the week. The fire was “as intense as hell”, says Ekolu Brayden Hoapili, moved to have had to “leave a lot of people behind” him. The survivors had to flee the city without looking back as the fire progressed so quickly, some even had to throw themselves into the ocean.
The fire was “incredibly devastating,” according to Jeremy Greenberg, a Fema official interviewed on MSNBC. “These types of fires can spread a distance equivalent to an American football field in twenty seconds or less. Fueled by violent winds from Hurricane Dora, further offshore, the flames progressed all the faster as the archipelago was affected by a “severe” drought.
“We underestimated the dangerousness and the speed of the fire”
Of the shops, hotels, buildings and restaurants that made the charm of this seaside town of 13,000 inhabitants, there is almost nothing left. A majestic banyan tree, a tourist attraction, was licked by the flames but seems to have survived. It stands, now solitary, amidst the ruins. In this landscape of desolation, the residents seek to understand how the drama could take on such proportions. Justice too: an investigation has been opened into the management of the crisis by the authorities.
The island of Maui suffered numerous power outages during the crisis and the 911 emergency number stopped working in parts of the island, while fire alarm sirens were not activated. The alerts, usually transmitted by telephone, could not be received because “there was no network” and “clearly, we did not provide backup solutions to ensure the safety of the inhabitants”, admitted Saturday Jill Tokuda, elected Democrat of Hawaii, on the CNN channel. “We underestimated the dangerousness and the speed of the fire,” she regretted. “We have to improve. »