Stories from Lahaina, In Memory

As Maui burned

There is so much tragedy, and so much to question, around the Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii fire, on August 8, 2023, along with a great deal to grieve. Much will be covered in additional Substack posts I am working on. Currently the death count stands at 111, with still over 1000 missing. Now called the deadliest blaze in the U.S. in over 100 years.

My upcoming Substack posts will cover issues of Recovery Efforts, Land Grabs, Smart Cities, and theories from an electrical spark causing such devastation, all the way to the other extreme of questioning if DEW, Directed Energy Weaponry were used.

This post will focus on stories, and the people. Even as this is written, the body count is still rising. Having also lost a home in a deadly California blaze, I feel especially sensitive to first address the people, the animals, and how to get needs met.

Let’s first ease in , before the people stories, with updates on the sacred Banyan Tree.

The Beloved Banyan Tree of Lahaina Was Burned In the Fire

Hundreds of People from around the world have been asking the Hawai’i State Arborist if the beloved Banyan Tree will survive.

The Lahaina Banyan Tree is the Oldest and Largest in the World, and has become a symbol of life for Lahaina.

This is what Steve, the State Arborist said 8/14/23. He and his team have examined every trunk from top to bottom, and he sees live tissue under the bark on every trunk.

They are watering the tree top to bottom daily, nourishing the soil with special compost, creating aeration, and taking soil samples. He says the tree is in a "coma" like state, and he believes that with proper care they could see signs of life within 3, 4 months.

They will be listening to what the tree is saying as to what steps to do. He sounds optimistic. Pray for our Beloved Banyan (Photographer unknown of picture below)

A Little About the History of Maui Banyan Tree Park

The banyan tree in Lahaina, in Maui, Hawaii, United States, was planted on April 24, 1873, in Lahaina to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of first American Protestant mission. The banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) known in Hawaiian as paniana, located in the Courthouse Square, which was renamed Banyan Tree Park covering 1.94 acres, is not only the largest in the state but also in the United States.

The tree was a gift from missionaries in India. A mere 8 feet (2.4 m) when planted, it has grown to a height of about 60 feet (18 m) and has rooted into 16 major trunks, apart from the main trunk, with the canopy spread over an area of about 0.66 acres (0.27 ha).

Lahaina, Maui, A Historic Town

This was shared on social media, on just how special old Lahaina was

Lāhainā, Maui

Once known as Lele, which means “relentless sun” in Hawaiian, Lāhainā is a historic town that has been transformed into a Maui hotspot with dozens of art galleries and a variety of unique shops and restaurants.

Once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the early nineteenth century, Lāhainā was also a historic whaling village during the whaling boom of the mid-1800s. Up to 1,500 sailors from as many as 400 ships took leave in Lāhainā, including Herman Melville, who immortalized the era in his classic novel Moby Dick.

Today, Lāhainā is on the National Register of Historic Places. You can still get a feel for old Lāhainā as you stroll down lively Front Street, ranked one of the “Top Ten Greatest Streets” by the American Planning Association. Visit historic stops like the U.S. Seamen’s Hospital, Hale Paʻahao (Lāhainā Prison), the Pioneer Inn, Maui’s oldest living banyan tree and other sites on the Lāhainā Historic Trail. Approximately 55 acres of old Lāhainā have been set aside as historic districts.

Maui Fire First-Hand Account: ‘We Could Not Escape’

Video: Shocking Eye Witness of Lahaina Maui Fire from Front Street Police Blocked Off the Exits

This was the initial video with Fish.

Video: Maui Police Blocked Escape Routed as told by FISH from Front Street Found ALIVE!

DEW'd Lahaina, "NO ONE IN..NO ONE OUT "Hawaii, only Lahaina no other islands or lands Take Over !!!

Confirmed: Maui Police BAN PRESS From Documenting The Enormous & Suspicious Obliteration Of The City

‘It was pitch black': Woman's harrowing escape from Maui wildfire

Interviews on the Ground From Live Storms Media

08-12-2023 Lahaina, HI - Survivor Story, Man Still Looking For Missing Wife

Interviews on the Ground From Live Storms Media

08-12-2023 Lahaina, HI - Man Describes Apocalyptic Living Conditions Post Fire

08-12-23 Lahaina, HI-Family survives Maui fire in ocean, films ordeal, SOT

Grand Bay woman reportedly dies in Maui fires

From a resident of Maui - source - copied from social media

“What you’re not hearing from our local government…

I just got out of a meeting where I was informed by someone in the Mayor’s office about developments that are being kept from the public. I am not a conspiracy theorist and I don’t want to make trouble but here’s what I’ve heard:

- The amount of fatalities is expected to be more than 500 but less than 1000.

Many of the fatalities will be children who were at home because they canceled school. Parents worked and were not there to evacuate the children. Kids had no idea they needed to leave and by the time they noticed their homes or apartments were on fire, it was too late.

- The government is worried about how we will react when we learn that the fire department left the fire earlier in the day and claimed it was 100% contained knowing that the winds were expected to be 70mph by the afternoon. This is against all fire control protocols. The fire department should not have left the original fire unattended.

- They are scared that the public calls for accountability will be more than they can control and protests and riots will occur.

- They plan to lock down Lahaina for several months. It will take months to clean up the hazardous and environmental contamination.

- They won’t have enough housing for All the displaced.

-There were 2,000 unaccounted for this morning. They have a list where they are trying to keep track. They found 700 today. But there are still 1300 missing.

- They are very worried that the community is going to freak out when they find out how not a single fire truck responded to the fires.

- The emergency sirens were not activated (hurricane sirens) and loss of life could have been kept down by better emergency management which utterly failed.”

If you ask me, this is not incompetence, it’s a planned crisis.

Article: Maui’s emergency management chief resigns, citing health reasons, a week after start of deadly wildfires

August 17 2023
”Details about the health reasons that Andaya cited were not immediately available.

Andaya’s resignation comes amid growing scrutiny around why the island’s robust siren system, which is mainly used for tsunami warnings, stayed silent as flames spread.

On Wednesday, Andaya told reporters he did not regret the decision not to sound those alarms, saying that if they had sounded, he worried many residents would’ve gone inland and “would have gone into the fire.”

US Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii criticized that response later that day, calling Andaya’s assessment of the situation and comment about not regretting his decision “premature.”

Article: Maui’s warning sirens stayed silent as wildfires approached Lahaina. Here’s what we know

August 17 2023

“Authorities face mounting questions about whether more could have been done to warn residents as wildfires devastated western Maui earlier this month, after Hawaii’s siren warning system stayed silent while wildfires reduced the town of Lahaina to ashes.

The statewide system, made up of more than 400 emergency sirens dotted across the Aloha State, is said to be the largest integrated emergency siren network in the world, alerting residents to natural disasters like tsunamis or wildfires or man-made threats. It includes 80 alarms in Maui County, many in and around Lahaina, according to a county website.”