Maui officials highlight steps toward rebuilding as 1-year mark of deadly wildfire approaches
LAHAINA, Hawaii — Nearly a year after wind-fanned flames tore through Kim Ball’s community in Hawaii, the empty lot where his home once stood stands as a symbol of the progress being made in post-war reconstruction. deadliest wildfire in the US over more than a century it destroyed thousands of homes and killed 102 people in Lahaina.
“Welcome to the neighborhood,” Ball said Wednesday as he greeted a van full of Hawaii reporters invited by Maui County officials to tour certain areas. locations destroyed by fire.
The gravel covering the lots on his street in Lahaina indicates what that is characteristics have been cleared of debris and toxic ash in the months since the fire of August 8, 2023. On the plots along Komo Mai Street, green patches protrude through the still visible charred vegetation.
Speaking over the noise of heavy equipment working across the street, Ball described how he was able to get a building permit quickly, in part because his house was only about five years old and his contractor was drawing up plans. still had.
Ball wants to rebuild the same house based on those plans.
“Maybe we can change the color of the paint,” he said.
Nearby, in Malanai Street, some walls were already up on Gene Milne’s property. He is the first to start construction because his previous home was not yet fully completed and had outstanding permits.
When he evacuated, he was living in an outbuilding, known locally as an ‘ohana unit, borrowing the Hawaiian word for family. The main house was about 70 percent complete.
“I was in complete denial that the fire would ever reach my house,” he recalls. “Sure enough, when I came back a few days later it was gone.”
It’s “extremely healing,” he said, to be on site and see the walls go up for what will become the new ohana unit. With insurance money to help rebuild, he looks forward to that day when I can have a cocktail on the lanai and enjoy Maui – at home.
The ongoing construction work on the Milne property is “a milestone for us,” Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said. “I think the rest of the community can use this as a kind of starting point and say, ‘If they can do it, we can do it.’”
Although it has been almost a year, rebuilding Lahaina will be long and complicated. It is unclear when people displaced by the fire will be able to move back or if they will be able to do so afford to do thisThe county has approved 23 residential development permits so far and 70 of them are still under review, officials said.
“We are not focused on speed, but on safety,” Bissen said.
Other stops on the tour included work on a former outlet mall that had been a popular shopping destination for tourists and locals alike, and a beloved, giant 151-year-old banyan tree, now dramatically greener with new growth thanks to efforts at field of nature conservation. of tree caretakers.
They tended the sprawling tree with alfalfa and other nutrients — “mostly just water,” said Tim Griffith, an arborist who helps care for the tree along historic Front Street in Lahaina. “Trees are going to heal themselves, especially when they’re stressed.”