'You lost the community': Lahaina residents look for hope a year after the fires

MAUI, Hawaii – For Shannon I’i, the entire month of August stirs difficult emotions. Grief. Mistrust. Pending doom. Uncertainty.

“Lately, it’s not so much the date itself but the coming toward that date,” she told USA TODAY of the Maui wildfire anniversary. “For me, this past month has been a lot more triggering, a lot more emotional.”

To I’i and her family, Lahaina is their home – it has been and will be. She and her family have spent the past year navigating chaos and adjusting to a new normal following the wildfires . After their three-bedroom house burned down, the family were housed in a hotel then moved into a small studio on her great-aunt's property in Lahaina.

I’i said she feels blessed to still live in her hometown, even if it’s in the trauma-laced burn zone. Her home will be rebuilt by Habitat for Humanity, but she said not everyone else is so lucky.

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Her parents, who are retired, also lost their house in what was the deadliest wildfire in recent U.S. history and will have to move to a different island, Oahu. Now they must pay rent after after making mortgage payments. When they can return to Maui is up in the air for now.

“Everybody’s lifestyle has changed,” she said. “My parents are going through a time where they worked their whole lives for their home, the home burned and where do you go from there?”

I’i and her family are not alone in their feelings. Thursday marks the anniversary of the wildfires that ravaged historic Lahaina Town, which killed over 100 people and destroyed homes, cultural sites, and businesses alike. As the Lahaina community continues to work toward recovery – both emotionally and logistically – many questions remain unanswered.

Struggling financially alongside the emotional burden, nearly half of the fire survivors have said they are “very seriously” or “somewhat seriously” thinking about leaving the island. Research from the Maui Together Wildfire Assessment found that one-third of the family members of survivors have already left.

The anniversary also serves as a reminder of the deep love and sense of community that Lahaina residents have for their town, the former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. This is where many find hope at the chance to rebuild their home, refusing to give up on a new, brighter future for Lahaina, even if it will be years down the line.

“I love Lahaina so much,” I’i said. “That’s it for me.”

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The biggest loss was community

Baby Beach was once a beloved local spot in Lahaina, a place where “everybody would go” to play in its gentle waters and relax on the sand, according to I’i. Now, I’i thinks of loss when she sees the beach, of the people who had to jump over the rock wall to escape the inferno. “You see that and it’s that heavy feeling,” she said. “I think of things such as pilina , or connectedness, our beaches being full of people, and it’s really hard to move on.”

I’i misses running into her neighbors in the grocery store. “You lost the community, not just losing your home,” she said. “Being away from each other has been the biggest loss.”

Despite how sprawling Maui is – the second-largest island in Hawaii – its community is close-knit.

In the face of a challenging year, the Maui community has shown remarkable resilience, with grassroots organizations like Lahaina Strong, local restaurants, and citizens stepping up to provide disaster relief when they felt government support fell short.

Since the fires, I’i has been heavily involved in community meetings and mental health outreach. In the immediate aftermath, she went from hotel to hotel to check on those who were displaced to let them know of resources to help them cope with the grief. Sometimes they just talked about what they went through to “have that shared experience,” she said. Speaking with another local rather than emergency responders who arrived on the island, people were “way more open.”

Now she is working with the Department of Health to establish the Ke Ola Hou Resiliency Center which will serve as a space for the Lahaina community to get mental and physical health and other social services. It’s a critical resource as 64% of those impacted by the fires said their mental health has worsened, according to a recent assessment of over 1,000 fire survivors by the Hawaii State Rural Health Association.

“Being involved, being able to help other people really helps me,” she said. “I get to see people in my community. It’s familiar, it’s hopeful.”

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‘Just not knowing’

Before the tragedy, life in Maui wasn’t only paradise. The island was already facing challenges such as a high cost of living and a housing crisis. In 2021, Maui had the most expensive median rent in the state , according to the 2023 Hawaii Housing Factbook. Housing affordability has been equally difficult for Maui locals, with the median single-family home costing $1 million.

The devastating fires only exacerbated these concerns for those impacted by the fires, according to the Hawaii State Rural Health Association’s assessment. Sixty-nine percent say they’re now worse off financially, cutting back on groceries and medical insurance. On Friday, Maui County expanded its Homeowner Assistance Fund on Friday to a total of $21 million for owners to receive up to $60,000 for housing-related expenses like mortgage payments.

On Maui, short-term rentals account for 15% of the total housing supply, a number that Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen wants to reduce. In May, he proposed a bill to convert over 7,000 of those into long-term rentals by 2026 – approximately 2,200 are in West Maui.

“Some of the problems as a business operator is we can’t hire help because there’s no places to live,” said Peter Merriman, owner of Merriman’s Kapalua, just north of Lahaina. “Everybody who works there has to commute from other parts of the island.”

Most families are living in limbo due to lengthy insurance processes and awaiting payments from the recent $4 billion settlement agreement from the lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric, which some say was responsible for the fire.

Peter Longhi is also grieving the loss of his family home. “I didn’t lose where we were living but I lost everything from my childhood,” he said. “It’s just gone, it’s really sad.” He’s not quite sure yet if he’ll be able to rebuild his house. “We’re planning to, we’re hoping to.”

Longhi inherited Longhi’s, a namesake Italian restaurant located on Kaanapali Beach in the Marriott Ocean Club, from his father. Many of his employees lost their homes and had been living in the hotels. “Dealing with that emotionally, it’s been terrible,” he said. “Coming up on a year, it still gets you at random times.”

For Longhi, the hardest part of recovery is the uncertainty. What will become of Front Street, once the most patronized part of Maui? Will there be enough jobs or housing in the rebuilding of Lahaina? How much will it cost to rebuild his home?

“Nobody knows the answer, and that’s what I think is frustrating and saddening to everybody is just not knowing,” he said.

A new Lahaina

One year later, there are rays of hope.

◾ Banana trees are sprouting, offering specks of vibrant green life among the ashes.

◾ Due to careful nurturing, the historic banyan tree is also thriving, regrowing its leaves and tendrils.

◾ Nearly 98% of Lahaina’s residential properties have now been cleared of debris.

Many look toward the past to inform Lahaina’s future – the town was built upon a wetland called Moku’ula and a royal fishpond known as Mokuhinia. It was once so abundant it was called the “Venice of the Pacific.” Breadfruit trees and others were planted around the sacred resource, offering shade and food. Freed from infrastructure and given the space and time to breathe, the groundwater and streams have begun to reflow.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green and other officials are coordinating with Native Hawaiian-led Lahaina nonprofits like Na Aikane o Maui to restore the cultural site . This regeneration offers renewed strength to Lahaina residents.

“I never thought it would happen in my lifetime,” I’i said. “Instead of having a bunch of tourist drops on Front Street and catering to tourism, I hope there is cultural preservation from the beginning of Moku’ula.”

Rebuilding Lahaina not only offers an opportunity to honor its cultural history but also reshape the town with improved, more resilient infrastructure. As the deadly flames raged, many people were unable to get out because of downed power lines and locked gates, according to a recent report , commissioned by the Hawaii attorney general and published by the Fire Safety Research Institute. Failed pipes meant water couldn’t flow from the fire hydrants.

Unfortunately, rebuilding the town will take years, with some architects estimating seven to eight years . Heartbreakingly, some of the kupuna (elders) may not see their revitalized Lahaina.

Still, construction is already underway for a handful of Lahaina homes and more permits are applied for each day. New houses are slated to be outfitted with roofing and other materials to better withstand high winds and wildfires. It will be a long way to go, but those who call Lahaina home push forward.

“I don't want to just survive here, I want to be able to thrive here,” I’i said.

Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter based in Hawaii. You can reach her at kwong@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'You lost the community': Lahaina residents look for hope a year after the fires