PORTLAND, Ore. — Officials in Hawaii confirm the death toll from the wildfire on Maui has spiked to 55 people, and that number is expected to grow. More than a thousand structures have also been destroyed.
It’s a horrible situation on the ground in Maui and people in the Pacific Northwest want to help.
On Thursday, KGW talked with Portland-area people who escaped the worst of the wildfires and are still on the island, as well as some who made it home to Portland. The Hawaiian community in Oregon also spoke about grappling with the unknowns after the devastating damage.
“The fire in Lahaina started first, so we were thinking we were in the clear, then boom, out of nowhere,” said Jessica Miller.
Miller was visiting her aunt's home in Kihei, about 20 miles south of Lahaina, when they received the evacuation order as the wind-driven fires began to rage.
After landing at Portland International Airport late Wednesday night, she said it was a scary chaotic experience.
“Thank God we had our baggage packed from the night before so we could just get out,” said Miller.
The fires on Maui are causing heavy hearts around the world, with the death toll climbing on an island so full of beauty and tradition that is now being decimated by wildfire.
“What was really sad was, we were just in Lahaina, I think a day or two before the fires, and I don't know what's left. There's so much history there and it's heartbreaking,” Miller said.
Local organizations are stepping up to help. The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland is joining its national effort to raise donations to help Hawaiians survive and eventually reset.
Bob Horenstein, with the federation, said people living in the Pacific Northwest have experience with devastating wildfires.
“And so hopefully we can empathize with the people of Maui and the big island and we could be supportive of what their needs are. It's really important that we respond just from a humanitarian point of view,” Horenstein said.
KGW also spoke with a rabbi from Portland who is currently in Maui.
“It's really devastating; this really is a piece of paradise,” said David Kosak, the Senior Rabbi of Congregation Neveh Shalom via Zoom. He said he and his family are safe at a condo in Kihei.
A beautiful sunset picture he sent KGW is filtered by the smoky skies that are burning their eyes. The Kosak family is trying to book a flight to end their visit early. In the meantime, they are witnessing locals come together in extremely trying times.
"And that gives us a real sense of the aloha spirit, and the sense of camaraderie,and that people are really in it together, which is really helping everyone right now," he said. "It is such an elevated and gorgeous way that people normally live it serving them well now, but it's very, very sad."
Kosak mentioned that he was able to connect with a local synagogue and offer direct aid from Portland. In a matter of 15 minutes, it had been accomplished, allowing the Maui congregation to help its community with help from the Pacific Northwest.
In Oregon, Kris Galago has spent the past two days, restless, trying to check in with family and friends still on the island.
"You feel helpless, and hopeless for them," she said. "We just sit and wait for for updates as people are being located. We're getting updates on that, but we are still getting updates on people who are still missing and trying to be located, so it's hard to carry on knowing your family is in danger."
Leialoha Kaula is the Executive Director of KALO HCC, the local chapter of the Hawaiian Civic Club. She said they're actively working to support the families who've lost everything, including the homes they've lived in for generations.
"They're all going to need to rebuild. We need to rebuild Lahaina," she said Thursday, "So our future, what we're looking for is, how do we help them in the long run? Because Lahaina will rebuild and ... they're going to need all of us."