the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century ripped through MauiEver since her cousin came to tell her that four members of their family, including her 8-year-old nephew, burned to death in their car while trying to escape the blaze, Waring, 65, has been spending time with friends at Napili Park, which has become one of several crowd-sourced aid depots in the beloved, nearly destroyed area of Lahaina.Waring is one of many locals grappling with widespread loss.
Hiraga said she believes Molina may have perished in a car like Waring's family, and she's trying to find Molina's brother to get a DNA sample. On Sunday, she flagged down residents at the supply depot to get them to fill out a county form that includes a section on missing loved ones. "This is hard psychologically because of the loss. We lost the whole culture of the village of Lahaina," Morris said. "Like now my grandchildren won't go to a school that's been here for 50 years, won't dance hula."
When Domingo rolled into Napili Park Sunday with a community aid convoy, her car was stuffed to the roof with toilet paper, paper towels, sanitizing wipes and coffee filters. By the afternoon, as the group drove through neighborhoods not far from Lahaina's iconic and decimated Front Street, her car was completely empty.
"You go to sleep crying, you wake up crying. That's what happens," she said. "The smell. The smell. The smell will never leave me ever."