Former Fremonter recalls Maui fires

Aug 04, 2023

Former Fremonter Connie DeBord of Kula, Maui, is shown with her cat, Ziggy. They evacuated their home during Aug. 8 wildfires in Maui. Her home was spared, but DeBord has seen the devastation in other areas of the island.

Former Fremonter Connie DeBord shared this photo of destruction seen in Upcountry in Maui after the Aug. 8 wildfires.

Smoke is seen Aug. 8 on the mountain, Haleakala, where former Fremonter Connie DeBord lives. It was the beginning of fires in Upcountry the same day as in Lahaina. Resources were spread thin that day, she said.

Connie DeBord, formerly of Fremont, took this photo showing the devastation in Upcountry in Kula about 10 minutes away from her home.

DeBord

Connie DeBord could see the glow from the fire above her house in Kula, Maui.

With extra clothes, credit cards and her cat, Ziggy, the former Fremonter began to drive down the mountain called, Haleakala, where she lives. Her ex-husband, Marv Pickett, evacuated with her.

“Below us were these flames that were really big,” she said. “As we were driving to get down to Kihei, where my friend lives, there was all this fire all along the bottom of the mountain.”

DeBord - who moved to Maui in 1988 – learned wildfires were destroying areas of the beautiful island. Although her house was spared, DeBord has seen fire-caused destruction in Kula and Upcountry (part of Haleakala) along with news and social media accounts of devastation in other parts of Maui. She’s also seen the outpouring of support that’s followed the fires, which started Aug. 8.

On Friday, the Associated Press reported that Maui County released the names of 388 people still missing more than two weeks after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. The number of confirmed dead after fires on Maui that destroyed the historic seaside community of Lahaina stands at 115, a number expected to rise, AP stated.

DeBord, who grew up in Fremont, previously worked for the Nebraska Department of Social Services. After a friend told her about employment opportunities in Hawaii, DeBord got a job in Maui and moved there 35 years ago.

She and her family built their home halfway up the mountain Haleakala – which means House of the Sun – in 1993.

DeBord said Maui had four fire sites at the same time on Aug. 8.

That day, she’d been downtown and had started driving up the mountain to go home.

“I saw smoke all across our mountain,” DeBord said. “It was further north around the mountain from where we live. It was going up Olinda (an agricultural and residential community).”

DeBord saw a small fire closer to their house. She reached the house and monitored the news.

“They started talking about multiple fires,” she said.

There was one fire at Olinda and another lower on the mountain from Pulehu to Omaopio roads, which are about 4 miles apart.

Friends previously warned DeBord to pack a to-go bag in case she needed to evacuate.

“I looked off the front deck of our house and right below us – not even a mile away – there were huge flames,” she said.

She and Pickett evacuated. They reached her friend’s house and watched the news.

“I couldn’t go to sleep that night,” DeBord said. “I was half awake all night and, every hour after midnight, they would come on (the news) with an update.”

People worried about Lahaina, Kula and Olinda. There was a possibility that Kihei - where DeBord was - might be evacuated as well.

At that point, it felt like the whole island was on fire, DeBord said.

Kihei wasn’t evacuated and DeBord and Prickett stayed there two days before returning home. The house was fine, but fire destroyed some homes in a subdivision about 10 minutes away.

“A couple of our friends’ houses are gone,” she said. “The subdivision is a disaster. Huge trees were downed across the roads, giant eucalyptus trees ripped out by their roots. It would have been hard for anybody to get through with firetrucks or water tanks.”

Despite the destruction to 16 houses in Kula and three in Olinda, DeBord said she believes the residents are OK.

Folks erected stands along the roadsides offering free food and water.

“People were showing up at other people’s houses with chain saws and trucks to haul away the trees that were down,” she said.

Everyone – even those who have lost everything – are trying to help others.

DeBord also said people had been trying to fight fires in Lahaina and Kula, but the water ran out. Since the wildfire destroyed several structures, causing the water system to lose pressure, harmful contaminants, including chemicals, may have entered the water. Kula remains in an unsafe water advisory.

“(It) may be several more weeks before we are cleared to use the water,” she said.

Large tankers are supplying water. Different places like the YMCA are open for people to take showers.

DeBord is quick to differentiate her situation from others.

“What I experienced is nothing compared to Lahaina,” she said.

Lahaina is about an hour and a half away from where DeBord lives.

“So the firefighters were spread out pretty thin,” she noted.

News accounts also have stated that at least 18 firefighters lost their homes.

On Aug. 8, firefighters extinguished a small fire earlier that day. Winds increased and more than 20 power lines on wooden poles went down on roads.

“People have videos of them (the lines) sparking and starting various fires,” she said.

Non-native grasses caught fire.

“It (fire) roared down along Lahainaluna Road to Front Street (in Lahaina),” DeBord noted.

Whipped by 60 mph wind gusts caused by Hurricane Dora, fire thundered down Front Street.

“Somebody said the fire got to 1,000 degrees,” DeBord said Aug. 16. “It melted metal. People were in their cars trying to get out. The cars were exploding. The gas stations were exploding. There’s lines of burned-out cars down Front Street.”

DeBord said Front Street is along the Pacific Ocean.

“Some people escaped into the ocean,” she noted. “Some said they were in there for five or eight hours.”

But danger was there, too.

“There were boats exploding,” DeBord said. “There was gasoline on top of the water. So it depended on where they got into the water. … At one point, they said there had been 100 boats in the harbor and now there’s only seven left.”

Some people tried to stay on a rock wall in the water. The U.S. Coast Guard along with others was able to rescue some.

“There’s different counts of how many people (children, adults, locals and tourists) got rescued out of the ocean,” she said.

News accounts have stated that the search for victims has extended to the ocean waters.

Pets were affected, too. With an estimated 3,000 animals missing from Lahaina, the Maui Humane Society is trying to reunite pets and owners.

DeBord compares her visits to Lahaina to Fremonters visiting Omaha.

Lahaina was Hawaii’s first capital and has irreplaceable history from the 1800s. It featured many good restaurants, shops and live music.

“It was amazing,” she said.

People hope to revive Lahania’s 150-year-old banyan tree damaged in the fire.

Looking back, DeBord recalls the feeling of being powerless to stop the fire.

“This whole, huge beautiful area is just ashes,” she added.

Continuing with physical therapy after a July knee replacement, she’s been able to help people via telehealth.

She’s been touched by stories of chefs cooking thousands of meals. Mental health experts have been helping first responders. Donations are being collected and 1,800 people from Lahaina have been placed in hotels north of the city. People from around the world are coming to help. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has donated $100 million to help Maui. South Korea has donated $2 million and Taiwan has donated $500,000.

“It’s going to be a huge, long process of rebuilding,” she said. “It’s going to cost billions of dollars to rebuild.”

DeBord believes climate change will create more storms and wind and Maui residents need to improve the island’s infrastructure and also see how they and protect and preserve the ecology.

She sees hope in how people are working together. People may donate to Maui Strong through the Hawaii Community Foundation.

“It’s going to take years to rebuild and clean it up,” she said. “But there’s a lot of amazing people here and a huge community spirit.”

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