A set of photos show the same location in Hawai’i before and after the fires started.

Maui is one of the most well-known islands in Hawai’i, with over 3 million visitors a year. It has a rich history of the Kānaka Maoli (“native people” in Hawaiian language) living there since 300-700 A.D, with flowing green hills and crystal clear oceans. This real-life paradise, one as beautiful as the spirit of its people, was recently struck with a series of devastating wildfires, burning the land, destroying its homes, and taking many lives with it. On August 8, 2023, the fire began in the forest of Lahaina, the historic capital of the kingdom of Hawai’i.  Due to high winds and the dry landscape it quickly spread and hit people’s homes without warning, giving some residents no time to escape.

Unlike other natural disasters, there was no alarm given to people about the growing proximity of the fire, causing residents to stay in their homes filled with smoke, with some even dying in their sleep. Resident La Phena Davis told CNN, “Never in a million years did I think that fire would reach our home.” 

As of September 8th, the death toll was 115, with 66 people still unaccounted for. Along with homes and small businesses of Lahaina, many important artifacts and cultural archives filled with Native Hawaiian history were also lost. Two more major fires appeared east of Lahaina, creating more mayhem. The three fires in Olinda, Kula, and Lahaina, destroyed an estimated 3,453 acres of land.

Coverage of three fires across the island of Maui shown on a map.

Impact of Fires on Native Hawaiians

The island of Maui hasn’t been the same since, with family members gone, homes destroyed, and memories of a rich and essential culture to the Kānaka Maoli lost. All of the fires have been contained, but the timelines for rebuilding and restoring these areas seems further in the future than expected. According to the September 18th update for the County of Maui website, “At this time, there is no list allowing residents to return to the disaster area in Lahaina.” What used to be their busy, people-packed town is now full of, “ash that may contain toxic, cancer-causing chemicals with debris including broken glass, exposed electrical wire, and other objects.”  

A question that some non-islanders now wonder, is when will the island be open for tourism again? Officials have encouraged tourism to be held off until October 17, 2023, especially for West Maui. This strand of fires didn’t affect any other islands, so places including Honolulu, O’ahu, and Kauaʻi are still open. The first people to return to Lahaina, though, should certainly be locals, and space should be given to them to grieve, process, and find hope to eventually get back to their lives. Noelani Ahia, co-founder of the Mauna Medic Healers Hui, spoke to CBS News on this topic. She discusses a reality where, “Kānaka are allowed to return to our ancestral lands and restore it, so that our ecosystem is in balance, so that our people are nourished and healthy, and so that we can protect ourselves from outside people that have taken away so much from us”. The history of gentrification and over-tourism is often lost in people’s understanding of the islands but helps explain why citizens want to keep outsiders out and preserve their land, at least for now. 

A street in Lahaina, Hawai’i filled with people’s homes and businesses now burned down.

Painful History of Hawai’i

Before Hawai’i became an American territory, it (and its people) were at, some would argue, a physical peak. It was a nutrient-rich place, with no overfarming, and no industrial resorts taking up an excessive number of acres. But, on January 16, 1893, the Hawaiian government was illegally overthrown by The United States, dethroning their queen and making it a provisional government. Ever since, it’s been transformed into a wide space for mass plantation farms, and an ideal vacation destination, all constructed mainly for Americans. These conditions are believed to have dried the climate of Hawai’i, and paired with global warming, might be some explanation for the fires in current times.

Due to the massive number of tourists per year on the islands, the economy is incredibly high, with the median home price becoming $1.5 million. What doesn’t match up, however, is the $52,000 average salary of local residents. The constituent state has been modified into making islanders rely on tourism-related jobs to make a living and the state to rely on their business. 

But What About Vacation?

So, while resorts opening up again and the rush of vacationers all over the islands is quite inevitable, being informed on the history of the islands and why it’s so popular helps you respect their story and culture more, and have a better understanding of the whole picture that is traveling there. Locals have been encouraging people not to visit or support the corporate hotels long before the Maui fires, but this tragic event now offers a bigger platform for them to express their perspectives on it. Hawai’i is, first and foremost, people and their ancestors’ home, and it’s coming to light more now how that should be honored and supported by giving them the space to flourish. 

If you, before reading this, were considering planning a trip there, I would urge you to first stop, think about what their people just went through (and have gone through), what they’ve lost, then decide if your trip would be necessary, or insensitive to the people of those islands. There are thousands of amazing places to visit in the world, with thousands of landscapes and different ways of life to experience, but for the Kānaka Maoli, there’s only one home.

Sources:

• Tourists lost their summer vacations. Maui’s locals lost everything
• Smoke rushed in, then they ran. How local Maui residents faced the fire that killed their neighbors and leveled their town
• Maui County report
• How much of Maui has burned in the wildfires? Aerial images show fire damage as containment efforts continue
• Maui County Nonprofit
• How can tourists help Maui recover? Here’s what locals say.
• Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement 
• Lahaina Timeline
• Maui wildfires destroy sacred Indigenous sites