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What We Lost in the Lahaina Fire

The fire razed Maui’s densest dining town, destroying the fifth-generation-owned Nagasako Okazuya Deli, Maui’s oldest dive bar, the pickle mango stand on Front Street, and so much more

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Throughout its centuries-long history, Lahaina has been many things to many people: a royal residence, a missionary post, a hard-partying harbor town, a tourist trap. For some, it was simply home.

The fire that reduced the historic town to ash on August 8, 2023 was unsparing. It took the lives and livelihoods of so many of our community members. Around 50 restaurants went up in smoke that day. As the former dining editor for Maui Nō Ka ‘Oi magazine, I can name 30 without even trying. It’s an unfathomable loss for the industry — one that feels particularly cruel after everyone worked so hard to survive the pandemic.

For many, it’s still too early to talk about rebuilding. Even apart from the grief and mourning that still hangs in the air, on a very practical and tangible level, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates it will take months just to clear away the literal toxic debris. Before the fire, Lahaina’s world-famous Front Street was little more than a patchwork of wooden shacks held together by layers of paint, cooking grease, crusty sea salt, banana sap, and gossip. Some restaurants will certainly reopen in new locations, but that unique patina that made the place so compelling is gone.

And some restaurants will never reopen, including Nagasako Okazuya Deli , the oldest and arguably most beloved eatery in Lahaina. For 120-plus years, the Nagasako family served the West Maui community, and it started with Mitsuzo Nagasako, who opened a candy store on the corner of Front Street and Lahainaluna Road in the early 1900s. With each successive generation the business evolved — into a supermarket, then a grocery, and finally an okazuya, or deli. Lahainaluna boarding students crowded the okazuya counter before school each day to stock up on the deli’s special Spam musubi: meat in the middle, fried in teriyaki sauce. Families stopped by before and after the beach for shoyu chicken and breaded teriyaki steak. A week after the fire, the Nagasakos announced through a heartfelt post featuring photos of all six generations of the family that they would not reopen. This is one of the many threads to Lahaina’s past that has now been lost.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nagasako Okazuya Deli (@nagasako.okazuya)

The Pioneer Inn was Lahaina’s first hotel, built in 1901. Over the years it housed a saloon, stage, and movie theater. Most recently it was home to Papa‘aina , chef Lee Anne Wong’s wharf-side restaurant. Originally from New York, Wong came to Maui by way of Honolulu. She learned to cook Hawai‘i-style cuisine at Koko Head Café, her brunch spot in Honolulu’s Kaimukī, and perfected it at Papa‘aina, where she served breakfast ramen and mapo tofu loco mocos. A few years ago, Wong hosted a dumpling workshop in the Inn’s courtyard, drawing lessons from her cookbook, Dumplings All Day Wong . With her son on her hip, she taught us to roll and pinch our dough into crescents and dip them into boiling broth, much as local cooks had for the past 100-plus years. Whether or not Papa‘aina will ever reopen is unknown — right now, Wong is focusing on relief efforts for the thousands of displaced people.

Not long ago, at Kimo’s Maui , I had lunch with Paris-born artist Guy Buffet, who had immortalized the Front Street restaurant in a painting that captures the euphoria of dining there on the waterfront. When Rob Thibaut and Sandy Saxten opened Kimo’s in 1977, it was the beginning of their T S Restaurants empire, which now includes Dukes Waikīkī, Hula Grill, and Leilani’s on the Beach, among others. A trip to Maui was hardly complete without tackling a mammoth slice of Hula Pie at sunset while surfers caught the last ankle biters of the day at Breakwall. The owners have already pledged to rebuild their landmark restaurant.

Two doors down from Kimo’s, passersby could peek through a porthole into the Lahaina Yacht Club . Lahaina’s second-oldest restaurant was invite-only — but more in the piratical than prissy sense. Before transpacific sailor Floyd Christenson opened the beloved Mama’s Fish House in Kū‘au, he and a few other old salts founded the mariner’s club in 1965. They transformed a Front Street laundry into a clubhouse and contracted Hawaiian artist Sam Ka‘ai to design the club’s pennant, or burgee: a white whale on red backing. Colorful burgees from yacht clubs worldwide hung over the open-air dining room, where commodores traded navigational tips and tossed back shots of Old Lahaina Rum. If you rang the ship’s bell, you were buying the whole restaurant a round.

Across Honoapi‘ilani Highway, the Sly Mongoose boasted no view whatsoever — instead, Maui’s oldest dive bar advertised air-conditioning. Since 1977, “the Goose” had lured patrons indoors with its jukebox, goldfish crackers, and happy hour featuring $2 Jager Spice and “free beer tomorrow.”

These are only a fraction of the restaurants lost; entire chapters could be written about Lahaina Grill, Pacific’o, Feast at Lele, and Fleetwood’s on Front Street, where the Mad Bagpiper serenaded the setting sun on the rooftop every night. Restaurants weren’t the only places to find sustenance in Lahaina, either. There were food trucks, farmer’s markets, and even temples that served specialty snacks. During Chinese New Year, the Wo Hing museum offered crispy gau gee samples and moon cakes imported from Hong Kong. During the summer Obon festival, Lahaina Hongwanji and Jodo Mission hosted nighttime dances with chow fun booths. The outdoor kitchen at Jodo Mission overlooked the ‘Au‘au Channel and the steam from the boiling noodles wafted out to sea along with lanterns to remember the dead.

Lahaina old-timers will remember the little mango stand across from 505 Front Street. For years a local woman sold pickled mango there in little plastic sacks. Kids biked over after baseball games for bags of mango and sodas. In the summer, Lahaina’s mango trees were laden with the orbs of fruit. And before there were mangos, there were ‘ulu, or breadfruit, groves. Lahaina’s ancient name, Malu ‘Ulu O Lele, refers to the ‘ulu trees that once grew so thick you could walk for miles beneath their shade. Perhaps those trees will grow again.

As enormous as this disaster was, the community’s response was even greater. The day after the fire, Maui’s chefs sprang into action. The team of the grassroots project Chef Hui mobilized at the UHMC Culinary Arts campus to do what they do best: feed and nourish their community. In the first six days, they served over 50,000 hot meals to survivors of the fire. Despite losing her Maui restaurant, Wong has been at the campus every day plating up bentos, along with Isaac Bancaco, who lost both his home and his workplace at Pacific’o. Jojo Vasquez lost his home, too, and was forced to temporarily close Fond , his restaurant in Nāpili. That didn’t stop him from messaging his Chef Hui colleagues: “Tag me in coach, I stay ready.” Joey Macadangdang turned his restaurant, Joey’s Kitchen in Nāpili, into an emergency shelter the night of the fire and has been cooking for his displaced neighbors every day since.

Hawai‘i’s restaurant owners and workers are a tight-knit crew, battle-tested and resilient. Long before this fire stretched them thin, Maui’s restaurateurs, chefs, and servers were always at the island’s innumerable charity events with knives and generators ready. I had often wondered how they kept their doors open while donating food and staff to all these causes. Now is our chance to repay them for their decades of nourishment and for helping to knit together Lahaina’s fabric — layers of history laid down by Native Hawaiians, whalers, missionaries, plantation laborers, locals, transplants, and tourists to create the Lahaina in which we lived, loved, and dined.

Shannon Wianecki is a Hawai‘i-based writer and editor who specializes in natural history, culture, and travel.

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Coast Guard works to determine how many boats sunk in Lahaina harbor

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The grim search continues for victims of the wildfire that decimated historic Lahaina town , where the death toll now stands at 67.

On Friday, with search-and-rescue efforts offshore complete, the Coast Guard said it was switching its focus to environmental mitigation efforts.

One key effort: Trying to determine how many boats are below the waves off Lahaina.

The next step will be figuring out the environmental impacts and eventually removing them.

When flames spread through historic Lahaina town on Tuesday night, boats in the harbor were also destroyed. Dozens jumped into the waters off Lahaina to flee the flames.

Jonah Grace Tomboc, 21, said she and her family abandoned their car, sat along the seawall and watched as their Lahaina community engulfed in flames.

“We got stuck at Front Street by the outlet mall near the Methodist church,” said Tomboc.

“Due to traffic, people started to abandon their cars leaving us stranded while the fire quickly approaches from every direction.”

“We had no choice but to leave our car as well, so we jumped into the water for our safety. Waiting there by the shore until 8:30 p.m., that’s when we decided to check our car since the fire settled down a bit, making a run for it into our car because the other vehicles have already exploded and on fire around us.”

The Coast Guard said its crews rescued 17 people from the water, including two children.

“There was smoke and fire near the near the water, but they were fortunate to have been there during the rescues at a time when the smoke lifted for them to be able to see the people who needed to be rescued,” said Capt. Asa Kirksey, U.S. Coast Guard Commander of Sector Honolulu.

MORE UPDATES:

• Death toll from Lahaina wildfire stands at 55; governor says town is ‘gone’
• Residents impacted by Maui wildfires can apply now for FEMA assistance
• Want to help those devastated by the Maui wildfires? Here’s how
• Images of devastation compel residents to pitch in: ‘We got to do something’

Copyright 2023 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

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Lahaina boat captain navigates loss and recovery after fire depletes family business

Lahaina residents are taking stock of what’s been lost, as firefighters continue to assess the damage caused by the wildfires in West Maui.

Lahaina boat captain Keao Shaw lives just two minutes south of Lahaina Harbor. He didn’t think much about leaving his home Tuesday to help neighbors clear fallen trees.

"By the time I came back, I couldnʻt even get back to the house. My family and kids were with me and we had just the shirts on our back. And the houses are gone. Everything is leveled. Some of the boats that we had are at the bottom of the harbor now," Shaw said.

Shaw and his wife, ‘Iwa, run a small charter boat business out of Lahaina called Makai Adventures and a tour company Kainani Sails.

They lost one of their two boats in the fire, but it’s their 10 employees and their well-being that is top of mind for the Shaws.

"They’re also my really good friends. And some of them are with child. It’s really hard to see what they’re going through," Shaw said.

"A lot of people lost their homes, a lot of people lost their jobs. And it’s like how do you even stay? I would love to keep them here," he added.

The Shaws have raised more than $21,000 so far online for their employees .

Meanwhile, the couple’s children, 5-year-old Nāhiku and 3-year-old ʻOlina, were forced to relocate to ʻIwa’s hometown on Oʻahu’s North Shore because both of their schools were lost in the fire.

"One of my biggest questions is four years ago we had a similar hurricane scare and it was the same scenario. The fire started up in the mountains and they were raging toward Lahaina and all of Lahaina had to be evacuated. I’m curious as to what started the fire and how we could have prevented it," Shaw said.

It is still unclear exactly what triggered the wildfires in Lahaina. For now, Shaw will remain in nearby Honokohau Valley, while his wife and children start school on Oʻahu.

For additional coverage on the Maui wildfires, see below:

The hunt for bones and closure in Maui’s burn fields

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LAHAINA, Hawaii — In a scorched, gray landscape of ash and rubble — between the jagged green ridges of the ancient Puʻu Kukui volcano and the sparkling blue waters of the Pacific — Eric Bartelink stepped carefully around the perimeter of what was once a home.

With hundreds missing after the most destructive U.S. wildfire in a century blazed Aug. 8 through the historic Hawaiian town of Lahaina, the forensic anthropologist at Chico State, was searching for bone — a femur, a skull, a rib — any identifiable skeletal human remains .

The first scene he and his team surveyed after a callout from searchers with cadaver-sniffing canines turned out to be a false lead: the remains of two dogs.

But as Bartelink and his partner scoured the debris of more structures, they spotted a concentration of bones that was recognizably human : a pelvis, a femur, ribs, vertebrae.

They put on white Tyvek suits and protective gloves, in addition to P100 respirators. Then they bent down with trowels and brushes to sieve the debris through fine mesh screens with holes no wider than one-eighth of an inch. Carefully, they collected tiny fragments — shards of finger and toe bones and tooth roots — and put them inside paper evidence bags.

Their goal was to leave no speck of human remains behind.

“We owe it to the families to locate their loved ones, to recover them as complete as possible and to make sure that they all get identified,” Bartelink said. “Not knowing what happened to a loved one is devastating.”

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Three weeks after wildfires burned through Lahaina , the search for human bones — or iwi, as they are known in Hawaiian — has wrapped up, and officials are shifting to clearing toxic debris . But only 115 bodies have been recovered, with fewer than half of them identified.

Still, an unknown number of people remain unaccounted for, with numbers varying depending on the source. The highest is the FBI’s verified list of 388, though questions surround that figure.

Linda Vaikeli, 69, a transplant from Thousand Oaks who settled in Lahaina 26 years ago after falling in love during a vacation, is missing. So is Angelica Baclig, a 31-year-old Filipina immigrant who moved to Maui with her family as a teen and worked in customer service at Foodland grocery store. John “Thumper” McCarthy, 75, a retired sea captain and 40-year fixture of the Lahaina Yacht Club, is also on the FBI’s list. They’re just three of the many, with family and friends waiting to learn their fates.

We owe it to the families to locate their loved ones, to recover them as complete as possible and to make sure that they all get identified.

— Eric Bartelink, forensic anthropologist

Local and state officials have warned that the process of discovering who is safe and recovering and identifying the bodies of those who died will take time — and that not all will be accounted for.

“We do have extreme concerns that because of the temperature of the fire, the remains of those who have died, in some cases, may be impossible to recover meaningfully,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “There are going to be people that are lost forever.”

“We’re not recovering whole bodies,” Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said last week at a news conference. “We’re picking up ash. Some of it’s crumbling.”

But many experts who have worked on fire disasters in California and traveled to Maui to help with the recovery are hopeful that the remains of most, if not all, victims can ultimately be found and identified.

Five years ago, when the Camp fire destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise, local officials openly wondered whether they would be able to recover the remains of all the victims. “It is possible the temperatures were high enough to completely consume the body,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said on Day 4.

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In the end, 85 bodies were recovered and 84 identified, most of them with rapid DNA technology.

“Regardless of how hot the fire is, or how long it burns, there will always be something remaining — if you know what you’re looking for,” said Ashley Kendell, an associate professor of forensic anthropology at Chico State who took part in the search on Maui.

The challenge of finding remains

Some bodies were found early on, on roadways and in cars on Front Street.

Over the last few weeks, nearly 350 emergency personnel, plus 50 canines, have taken part in a mammoth search of the rubble of single-family homes and multistory apartments. Day after day, more than 40 firefighters and ocean safety officers donned snorkel gear to conduct grid searches of four miles of sea near the Lahaina harbor and Front Street after reports that some who fled from the flames into the ocean may have died there.

But the official death toll has not risen since Aug. 21.

On Monday, Green said he did not expect to find survivors in the burn zone or see the toll rise significantly. “The search and rescue, at least on land, is done,” the governor said.

Some who are searching for their loved ones are angry.

“If there are 115 bodies, 388 missing and ‘no survivors to be found,’ how does that list not go up?” said Nichol Simpson, who flew from Thailand to Maui last week to submit a DNA sample and search for her brother, Tony, a 43-year-old emergency medical technician. “Even if you are unable to recover the remains, those people existed and they are not to be accounted for amongst the dead?”

The eventual number of the missing could be significantly lower than 388. Last week, when officials released names — a sharp drop from their previous estimate of 1,100 — they urged anyone who knew a person was safe to contact them. In one day, more than 100 people reported someone on the list as safe , but officials have yet to verify that information and publicly update the list.

Even if you are unable to recover the remains, those people existed and they are not to be accounted for amongst the dead?

— Nichol Simpson, whose brother is missing

The task of compiling a list of the missing is complex: Many people have offered partial names or names of people they have not kept in touch with and could have moved out of the area. Some names are duplicated.

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“The number of unaccounted persons tends to start high and then will drop over time as duplicated names are resolved and additional people are located alive,” Bartelink said.

Pelletier said Tuesday that 110 “valid” reports of missing persons have been filed with Maui police. Some have emerged alive and well; some have been found dead. More than 50 open cases are being worked on.

California expertise

California has played a pivotal role in the Lahaina operation, deploying a team of more than 100 search and recovery experts. California is not just Maui’s closest neighboring state; it is well practiced in finding and identifying bodies after a mass fire disaster.

Bartelink has helped recover and identify human remains in some of the world’s most gruesome disaster zones, from mass graves in Bosnia-Herzegovina to the rubble of the World Trade Center towers in New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

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But it was not until five years ago that his focus pivoted to wildfires. He and his team at Chico State spent 21 consecutive days recovering bodies in Paradise, just 14 miles east of their campus. They worked on the 2020 Bear fire and LNU Lightning Complex fires, then the McKinney fire in 2022.

“ It just wasn’t something I expected would be a routine part of my job,” said Kendell, who had never responded to a fire until Paradise, the deadliest wildfire in California’s history.

As wildfires scorch ever larger swaths of California as human-made climate change creates warmer, drier conditions, Kendell now conducts annual search and rescue trainings on wildfire response and victim recovery and is the co-editor of a new book, “ The Path of Flames: Understanding and Responding to Fatal Wildfires ,” a manual for first responders.

“There are more and more widespread wildland fires , not only in California, but in Texas, Colorado, Oregon, in parts of Canada, South Africa and Australia,” Bartelink said.

The risk of wildfires has increased in Hawaii too as global temperatures rise and highly flammable, nonnative grasses spread on former sugar and pineapple plantations.

The fire that tore through Lahaina burned roughly 3.39 square miles and destroyed 2,200 structures — far less than the 239 square miles and 18,800 structures in Paradise.

Mapping how the Maui fires destroyed Lahaina

The Lahaina fire in West Maui ignited as firefighters focused on the Upcountry fire. What happened next — the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century — left the historic town in ashes.

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But the death toll is higher in Lahaina because the coastal Hawaiian town is a dense urban environment, with tiny lots crammed with clusters of residences housing multiple generations of families. Officials also gave fewer warnings and allegedly blocked roads because of downed power lines, slowing or stopping people trying to flee the flames.

It’s a painstaking process. ...You want to make sure that you are making those IDs, you are recovering everyone who perished in the fire. It’s just not something that you can speed up, unfortunately

— Kendell, forensic anthropologist

In the aftermath, Kendell said, it is important to be diligent about recovering remains and not rush.

“It’s a painstaking process that involves gathering so much information, gathering reference samples for DNA,” Kendell said. “You want to make sure that you are making those IDs, you are recovering everyone who perished in the fire. It’s just not something that you can speed up, unfortunately.”

The anthropologists have worked in so many disaster zones, they’re used to compartmentalizing. They focus on the debris, not the toll of human suffering.

“When you’re out at a scene, you’re not really thinking too much about it,” Bartelink said. “You’re just trying to do your job and making sure that you aren’t missing any victims.”

Still, he said, it felt jarring to work on a disaster on a tropical island. After working long hours in the charred ruins, he drove back to a hotel, past golden beaches with palm trees and an ocean dotted with surfers and luxury catamarans.

“You see tourists doing their things and that just looks weird,” Bartelink said. “You’re like, ‘OK, I was just in this kind of hellscape.’ ”

The science of recovering bones

The fire that ravaged Lahaina flattened one-story homes to 6 inches.

Everything turned grayscale, with few landmarks left other than charred metal shells of cars and cinder block walls jutting out of the debris like gravestones.

To the untrained eye, bone can resemble drywall or foam and insulation and other building materials.

“Burn bone, especially if you don’t know what you’re looking for, looks just like everything around it,” Kendell said.

A forensic anthropologist can usually spot human remains from a few feet away by circling a residence, looking for coiled metal bed springs or bathroom tiles — anything that might indicate known places of refuge such as bedrooms, bathrooms and living rooms — that could lead to a concentration of bone. “We have never found anyone in a kitchen,” Bartelink said.

Contrary to popular belief, bones do not turn to ashes in extreme heat.

When a person receives ashes of a loved one from a funeral home, the bones have been cremated in a furnace for two hours at up to 1,600 degrees. That leaves bone fragments that are then put in a mechanical mill and pulverized to dust, said Vyto Babrauskas, a researcher in fire safety science and president of consulting firm Fire Science & Technology Inc.

In a wildfire, a house burns for about an hour at 1,800 degrees at its hottest point, near the ceiling, Babrauskas said. But human remains would probably be found near the floor level, which is closer to 1,300 degrees — cooler than a funeral furnace.

“We would expect to get some reasonable recovery of the remains — probably enough to identify them,” Babrauskas said.

Depending on the intensity and longevity of the fire, burnt bone tends to be black or white.

First, bone blackens or chars. Charred bone starts to lose its organic matter but will sometimes yield DNA. Then it turns into calcine bone that’s grayish white and brittle with no organic matter.

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Some parts of the skeleton are likely to yield more DNA than others. Thicker bones, like the femur and humerus, tend to better withstand heat. Bones around the torso — the lower spine and pelvis area — are more protected by tissues, fats and muscles that are good for DNA sampling.

How do you identify bones?

After recovery comes identification.

With new rapid DNA technology, investigators no longer have to send all their material to labs with sophisticated equipment, highly skilled technical operators and huge backlogs — a process that can take months or years.

For the record:

10:08 a.m. Sept. 1, 2023 An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that 23 people died in the Conception dive boat fire in 2019. The total was 34.

Among the experts whom California deployed to Maui are Kim Gin, the former Sacramento County coroner who used rapid DNA technology to identify Camp fire victims, and Lt. Jarrett Morris of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, who used the same method after the Conception dive boat fire killed 34 people in 2019.

The Camp fire was the first mass casualty disaster to use the ANDE Rapid DNA system to compare the DNA of remains with the DNA of close family members.

A sample — a tiny fragment of bone or an oral swab — is put into a chip a little bigger than a computer hard drive, which is then inserted into a black box that is an air compressor and computer that performs data interpretation. Within 96 minutes, the system can develop a DNA profile.

Only 22 Camp fire victims were identified using conventional methods, including fingerprints, dental records and surgical devices, such as knee replacements, breast implants and pacer machines, according to a 2020 study in the Journal of Forensic Sciences. A far greater number, 62, generated DNA IDs.

“If there’s bones or tissue available, DNA can be abstracted from it,” Morris said.

After the Conception fire, officials were able to identify all the victims within 10 days.

“We knew who was on that boat, we had a manifest, so we knew where to start,” Morris said. “In this incident, we don’t know exactly who we’re dealing with. We don’t know exactly where they were, where they came from, if they had moved from one place to another.”

Lahaina is also a more complicated site for identification than Paradise because its historic downtown on the water’s edge was a bustling tourist site with a harbor, museums, galleries, bars and souvenir stores.

Ultimately, Morris said, not all the bodies may be identified by rapid DNA technology. In challenging cases, in which bones are severely burned, traditional labs can carry out more advanced abstraction of the DNA.

The final challenge is getting family members to provide DNA samples.

Collecting a DNA sample is a straightforward process, requiring a simple buccal swab rubbing a Q-tip six times on the inside of each cheek.

So far, just over 120 relatives of the Lahaina missing have come forward to provide DNA samples — significantly lower than in other major disasters. After the Camp fire, 255 people provided DNA.

“We are still below where we had hoped to be,” said Maui Prosecuting Atty. Andrew Martin, who is running the Family Assistance Center in Kaanapali. The more family members who provide samples, he said, the more chance officials have of identifying a body.

Lahaina is home to a high number of immigrants — nearly a third of residents are foreign-born and 40% are Filipino — which means a significant proportion of family members who can provide DNA samples live abroad and face hurdles in getting swabs to the island.

Some family members may be displaced and unaware of the need to provide samples. Others may fear their DNA will go into state and federal databases.

Martin and other officials have stressed repeatedly on local news that DNA samples will be used only to identify those who perished in the wildfire.

“The only thing that their DNA is used for is identifying their loved ones,” he said. “That’s it.”

After days scouring the burn zone, Bartelink said, he hoped that the remains yielded genetic DNA and that more families come forward to provide swabs. Only then can the missing be accounted for.

“The closure process often starts with just knowing what happened, where were they found, making sure that they’re identified,” he said. “We really are doing this for the families.”

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Jenny Jarvie is a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times based in Atlanta.

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This Tiny Section Of Front Street Survived The Lahaina Fire And Now Is Coming Back to Life

The iconic Old Lahaina Luau and other businesses that didn't burn are beginning to reopen, bringing back jobs and signaling the town is beginning to recover.

The iconic Old Lahaina Luau and other businesses that didn’t burn are beginning to reopen, bringing back jobs and signaling the town is beginning to recover.

When the smoke cleared from the Aug. 8 wildfire in Lahaina, most of the seaside town’s famed Front Street was destroyed.

Gone were art galleries, boutique shops, Mick Fleetwood’s restaurant, an elementary school and the historic Pioneer Inn. Badly damaged were the marina, banyan tree and ferry terminal.

But at the northern end of Front Street, between the charred remains of entire neighborhoods, a few businesses survived. Among them is the Old Lahaina Luau, which has been part of countless people’s weddings, honeymoons, engagements and memorable Maui vacations since 1986.

It would be months before this quarter-mile stretch of businesses — which includes several shoreline restaurants and a dive shop — was accessible. Mini celebrations broke out when water and electric returned.

After a lot of work, this small slice of Front Street is coming back to life.

The Mala Ocean Tavern reopened on Feb. 1 to the delight of locals and tourists. On Saturday, the Old Lahaina Luau will host guests for the first time since the fire with a fundraiser for the 60th Anniversary of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. It’s scheduled to open to the public on March 12.

And soon the Aloha Mixed Plate, an affordable community favorite eatery, will be back, opening in the space that had been planned for an upscale restaurant.

“To reopen means everything to us,” said Robert Aguiar, one of four owners in the Hoaloha Na Eha partnership that founded the luau and also owns Aloha Mixed Plate and the Star Noodle. “This is a rejuvenation for us.”

It seemed to be the same for the approximately 200 employees of the company who attended a recent blessing at the oceanfront luau grounds with a gorgeous view of Lanai and Molokai. The gathering was more like a family reunion, with hugs, kisses, laughter and plenty of stories to share.

“Fifty percent of our employees lost their homes. My kids’ school burned down. It’s our whole community that is affected,” said emcee Paula Martinez, who has worked at the luau for 23 years, beginning as a dancer. “We’re really connected with the community and so it’s been hard. But the luau is a very special place for me. There is so much ohana that is here.”

She said she understands the timing of the reopening is not right for everybody, but “you can feel almost as if the life is returning.”

The timing of the luau reopening has not been an easy decision. A vocal group in West Maui still thinks it is too early to reopen businesses that cater to tourists, especially when many survivors still are traumatized and don’t have stable housing.

“In a way, excitement may not be the right word,” said Kawika Freitas, the luau’s director of public and cultural relations. “It might be sort of a subtle relief because we can finally get our employees who have been feeling like they need to come back to work, to come back to work.”

Tim Moore, another of the luau owners, said the timing coincided partly with fire disaster unemployment benefits running out on Feb. 10. He said the company already has put many of its pre-fire 380 employees back on the payroll.

Kim Ball, a member of Mayor Richard Bissen’s six-person Lahaina Advisory Committee, focuses on the economy. He said it has been a balance between respecting the trauma people still are going through, which he understands having lost all three of his family’s homes, and also helping businesses reopen and people get their jobs back.

Ball, who owns five surf shops on Maui, said the economy may be able to diversify over the years, but for now it is basically run by tourism, which means all of the island needs the number of visitors to return to a healthy level.

“You’ve got to pay the bills,” he said. “We all have to pay the bills. And I’m not just talking about individual businesses. I’m talking about our government. It needs the tourist revenue to provide the services to our county.”

Ball said he thinks there is a “big silent majority” that privately believes West Maui needs its businesses back and its people returning to work.

Pamela Tumpap, executive director of the Maui Chamber of Commerce, said she is thrilled to see the Old Lahaina Luau and Mala Ocean Tavern reopening.

“While both are businesses dependent on tourism, I think that the community will rally around them and support them,” she said.

On a recent weekday at 2:30 p.m., Mala Ocean Tavern had a waitlist. It included Utah residents Chris and Bev Goddard who own property in Lahaina and spend several weeks every year on Maui.

“We’ve been here many, many times before, so when we heard it was open we wanted to come support it,” Bev Goddard said. “We should have made a reservation.”

Not all businesses on this stretch are back. The restaurant next door still has a sign that says: “Due to the power outage, Honu Oceanside will be closed 8/8/23.”

An Aug. 31 report from the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism listed 834 businesses in the Lahaina disaster area as being closed. Exact data is not available on how many have since reopened. But many have in the Lahaina Cannery Mall, which backs onto that small stretch of surviving Front Street, and other shopping centers in the area that escaped the fire.

At the southern end of Front Street, a second small stretch also survived, including the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort. But it will be a long time before it is able to reopen due to its location. The resort is right next to the Feast at Lele, the lesser-known luau also owned by the Hoaloha Na Eha partnership, that burned to the ground.

While the Old Lahaina Luau did not burn, the perfectly manicured property suffered extensive wind and smoke damage, and lost several trees. The roofs needed to be rethatched and extra landscapers were hired to bring back to life the tropical grounds that went without water for months.

Freitas said the luau would sponsor several community events and has added a new part of the program that honors Lahaina.

“We’re not going to just come in mindlessly to entertain tourists,” Martinez said. “At the end of the day, we’re here with kuleana (responsibility). We’re here with cultural practices. And, we’re going to do things tastefully.” During the blessing, four trees were planted at each corner of the property, with everyone contributing dirt and water. At each tree, a pule (chant) was repeated four times that basically translated to: “I plant you, now grow.”

Tim Medeiros, an Old Lahaina Luau server for 18 years, said “when the fire happened, it felt like everything was lost. But this planting of new trees shows this place is going to go on. We’re going to go on. The town’s coming back.”

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.

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Published on August 9th, 2023 | by Editor

Tragedy in Lahaina

Published on August 9th, 2023 by Editor -->

Amid the death and destruction due to wildfires in Maui, aerial video show the town of Lahaina having suffered significant damage, which includes Lahaina Yacht Club on Front Street and nearby Lahaina Harbor. Lahaina Town is a historic whaling village and tourism hotspot in Maui, Hawaii.

Tags: Lahaina fire , Lahaina Yacht Club , tragedy

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Mapping the Damage From the Maui Wildfires

By Molly Cook Escobar ,  Lauren Leatherby ,  Scott Reinhard ,  Elena Shao and Charlie Smart Updated Aug. 12, 2023

Structures visibly

damaged or destroyed

in satellite imagery

Honoapiilani Highway

Source: Times analysis of satellite image by Planet Labs; building footprints from Maui County and OpenStreetMap

An analysis by The New York Times using satellite images identified about 1,900 structures that appear visibly damaged or destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, a historic tourist town on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

Wind-fueled wildfires that tore through the island on Tuesday and Wednesday have claimed at least 89 lives , forced the evacuation of thousands and decimated Lahaina.

While the fires were largely contained by Thursday morning, firefighters have continued to battle flare-ups, and emergency workers are still searching for survivors amid smoky and ashy conditions.

Approximate

area of fires

Approximate area

of fires Wednesday

Source: Satellite data from Landsat

Satellite imagery of parts of Lahaina showed that the fires destroyed streets and leveled hundreds of structures, a number of them heritage sites that housed treasured artifacts of the town’s legacy and history.

Sept. 15, 2022

Planet Labs

Aug. 9, 2023

Tourists flock to Hawaii in large part for its tropical landscape and lush forests, but the state has also become increasingly vulnerable to wildfires . The area burned annually by wildfires in Hawaii has quadrupled in recent decades.

Invasive grasses that are highly flammable have taken over native vegetation in some areas, and climate change has exacerbated dry and hot conditions that have allowed many wildfires to spread more quickly.

Worsening drought conditions in recent weeks most likely contributed to the latest blaze. Nearly 16 percent of Maui County was in a severe drought on Tuesday, an uptick from about 5 percent the week before, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor . Lahaina, where the damage from fires was most concentrated, is on the drier, leeward side of the island that tends to receive less rain.

The drought had been worst in Maui,

where the largest wildfires occurred.

Dry conditions in Hawaii

Abnormally dry

Moderate drought

Severe drought

(THE Big Island)

The drought had been worst

in Maui, where the largest

wildfires occurred.

Source: U.S. Drought Monitor

Note: Data as of Aug. 8, 2023.

The Maui Wildfre, One Year Later

The 2023 blaze on the hawaiian island killed 102 people. it was the deadliest wildfire in america in more than a century..

Inside the Inferno: We used video evidence, data and interviews to reconstruct the day of the Lahaina wildfire , tracing the path of the blaze and revealing a cascade of failures.

Burned Out of Lahaina: A year after the historic seaside town was incinerated, thousands of residents are still trying to rebuild their lives elsewhere. Many are facing new hardships .

A Struggle to Survive : A woman who was working as a janitor in Lahaina and sending money to her family in the Philippines survived the fire. She couldn’t survive the year after .

Finding Solace in Baseball: A Little League player’s family lost almost everything in the fire. His team’s string of success this summer has represented a return to normalcy .

Preventing the Next Fire: Officials in Hawaii said they would make fire safety and preparedness improvements, but progress has been slow and costly. Here are five changes they hope to put into place .

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We are lahaina strong.

Wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui have killed over 90 people, and that number keeps increasing. More than 250 buildings in historic Lahaina Town have been destroyed which includes Lahaina Yacht Club on Front Street.

The fires started August 8 and fanned out across the island, growing in size and destructive power. It became national news as Hawaii declared a state of emergency on August 9, with aerial video showing the devastation.

As the co-host of the biennial Victoria to Maui International Yacht Race , Lahaina Yacht Club has welcomed been home to members and visitors since 1965. Here is a message from LYC Commodore Dave Schubert :

I write this with pure sorrow. Our beloved Lahaina Yacht Club and Lahaina Town has been devastated. The entire town of Lahaina and our home is gone and now just ash and rubble. What you are seeing in the news is probably accurate but just a small part of our reality. No power, water, etc… but we are an amazing community.

The people here are resilient. I have received many emails from reciprocal clubs across the country offering support and I want to assure that we will strive to rebuild, rebound, and come back better. We love and appreciate all of the heartfelt sentiments and support across the country.

To those amazing Commodores sharing such respect and support, I will absolutely share those caring messages after I get my/our lack of housing in check. To date quite a few of us Commodores, Past Commodores, and Board Members are now without homes. I do ultimately believe it will take all of us to be involved in rebuilding and all will commit to our future commitment to LYC.

Without hesitation, I am far more afraid for our general membership and their well-being. This town has so many amazing people. We are Lahaina Strong and most importantly we need to look out for the health and well-being of our families, friends, and membership and all those we love.

I hope this all makes sense. I am shedding tears as I write it. Lahaina Yacht Club and our strength has always been our family approach, our strength at its finest. Love and support to Lahaina and LYC.

To read the comments from this post on Facebook, click here . To make a purchase from the LYC store, click here .

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'There's nothing left': Devastating aerial images capture aftermath of Maui wildfires that incinerated island's historic town of Lahaina and killed at least 36 Hawaiians - with HUNDREDS still missing

• The town of Lahaina on Maui was entirely razed by the wildfire that started on Tuesday and spread quickly 
• President Biden has declared a major disaster in the state to assist the governor with the recovery effort  

By Jen Smith, Chief Reporter and Associated Press

Published: 15:13 EDT, 10 August 2023 | Updated: 19:47 EDT, 10 August 2023

View comments

Horrifying images taken at daybreak today show the extent of the damage in Lahaina, the Maui town that was entirely torched by a merciless wildfire on Tuesday. 

Thirty-six people were killed, dozens injured and hundreds remain missing as a result of the fire that remains a mystery to many residents. 

Local officials still do not know the precise origin of the fire. It spread quickly and ferociously because it was fanned by strong winds from the passing Hurricane Dora. 

Those gusts coupled with dry conditions on Maui and low humidity spelled disaster for residents, many of whom escaped with seconds to spare. 

As they begin to assess the damage, many are still looking for their loved ones after two days of terror. 

'We woke up and got on our phones to see pictures of our house down to slab. Nothing but smoke and cinders,' one shell-shocked local said. 

A man walks through the smoldering ruins of Lahaina on Wednesday 

Burnt out cars are seen after the fires ravaged parts of Maui

A man is seen on Thursday filming the devastation in Lahaina

Smoke from the fires rises above Lahaina on Thursday

The debris of an ocean-front home is pictured on Wednesday

Views from the air of the community of Lahaina on Thursday

An aerial view shows destroyed homes and buildings that burned to the ground around the harbor and Front Street in the historic Lahaina Town in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii, on August 10, 2023

Local officials still do not know the precise origin of the fire. It spread quickly and ferociously because it was fanned by strong winds from the passing Hurricane Dora

As locals begin to assess the damage, many are still looking for their loved ones after two days of terror

Officials said earlier Wednesday that 271 structures had been damaged or destroyed and that dozens of people had been injured.

'We are still in life preservation mode. Search and rescue is still a primary concern,' Adam Weintraub, a spokesperson for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said Thursday.

He said search and rescue teams still won't be able to access certain areas until the fire lines are secure and they're sure they can get to those areas safely.

'What we have here is a natural disaster,' Weintraub said. 'There may have been questions that need to be examined about whether it was handled in the right way. 

'But we still got people in danger. We still have people who don' have homes. We still have people who can't find their loved ones.' 

There are hundreds still missing from Lahaina, which saw the worst of the fires. 

Frantic relatives are sharing a Google document to update one another on their loved ones' whereabouts. 

President Biden has declared a major disaster in the state of Hawaii to free up emergency funding for local officials. 

The search of the wreckage on Maui on Thursday revealed a wasteland of burned out homes and obliterated communities as firefighters battled the stubborn blaze making it the deadliest in the U.S. in recent years

An aerial view of Lahaina after wildfires burned through the town on the Hawaiian island of Maui, on August 10, 2023. At least 36 people have died after a fast-moving wildfire turned Lahaina to ashes, officials said August 9

An aerial view shows the historic banyan tree along with destroyed homes, boats, and buildings burned to the ground in the historic Lahaina town in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii, on August 10, 2023

Where houses once stood is now ash and cinder. Thousands have lost their homes and hundreds are missing 48 hours after the fires

The burnt wreckage of a boat is seen Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii

Shell-shocked residents of Maui survey the damage from a wildfire that claimed 36 lives on Tuesday night 

Family members have been urged to contact the Red Cross as well as local hospitals in a bid to locate their relatives, after communication lines have been severed due to the level of destruction by the fire.

State officials are working with hotels and airlines to try to evacuate thousands of tourists to another island.

The Hawaii Department of Transportation confirmed that Maui's Kahului Airport is open, with thousands stranded there trying to escape the island.

As fires closed in all the way up to the shoreline, frantic locals jumped into the water in the harbor to escape the flames on Tuesday night. Twelve people were rescued from the waves by boats. 

Distraught residents of Lahaina woke up to photos and videos of their homes entirely destroyed. 

One escaped with his wife, children and dog and slept in a Whole Foods parking lot before waking to the news that their home had been destroyed. 

'We got to this side of the island midnight last night, with my wife and dog, we slept in a parking lot at Whole Foods. We woke up and got on our phones to pictures of our house down to slab. Nothing but smoke and cinders. We have the clothes we got on, a dog and two kids. And here we are,' he told NBC News. 

Wildfire wreckage is shown Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The search of the wildfire wreckage on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday revealed a wasteland of burned out homes and obliterated communities as firefighters battled the stubborn blaze making it the deadliest in the U.S. in recent years

Maui's part-time residents include Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, Steven Tyler, Owen Wilson and more. Larry Ellison owns almost the entire island of Lanai, which sits near to the town of Lahaina. Fleetwood Mac's Mick has encouraged fundraising efforts and is himself suffering the loss of his restaurant. There has been silence from the others as thousands of locals try to put the pieces of their lives and homes back together 

After hearing reports her home was destroyed along with her pets, Steff Baku-Kirkman is distraught

People gather while waiting for flights at Kahului Airport Wednesday. Several thousand residents raced to escape their homes on Maui as fires swept across the island

One local told reporters on Wednesday: 'We've still got dead bodies floating on the seawall. 

'They've been sitting there since last night. We've been pulling people out since last night, trying to save peoples' lives.' 

As residents woke to another day of destruction, many were wondering where the island's richest landowners are - and what they're prepared to do to help. 

Oprah , Jeff Bezos , Larry Ellison, Clint Eastwood and Steven Tyler are among big names with homes on Maui but none have commented yet on how they intend to help those in need. 

Bezos' fiancée Lauren Sanchez posted on Instagram that the fires were 'breaking her heart', but he is yet to offer a statement. 

With a net worth of $162billion, he is the third richest man in the world. Bezos owns a $78million property on Maui's southwest shore. 

A source close to the couple tells DailyMail.com they are 'devastated' by the disaster. 

'They have been on the phone with locals and local officials since yesterday. They will be making donations to help the community,' they said. 

Oprah, worth $2.5billion, owns nearly 2,000 acres of land on Maui and has been living there part-time for 15 years. It's unclear if any of her land was damaged. 

She bought up the most recent parcel - 860 acres - in March this year for $6.6million. Aerosmith's Steven Tyler also has a home on the island as does Owen Wilson and Clint Eastwood. 

Share or comment on this article: Lahaina fire aftermath: Aerial photos show extent of the damage caused by catastrophic fire - but officials STILL don't know what started the blaze

Maui is my home. We are all completely numb. The u...

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Lahaina victims mourned as search continues 'until all are found'

Sep. 10—Families and friends remember David Nuesca Jr., 59, and John "Thumper " McCarthy, 74, who died in the Lahaina inferno.

WAILUKU—No new names since Tuesday have been added to list of those known to have died in the Aug. 8 Lahaina wildfire, but the slow, methodical process of identifying the 115 individuals recovered so far continues.

The Maui Police Department has released the names of 55 of the fatalities, with six others identified but whose relatives have yet to be notified.

On Aug. 29, Maui County reported that 100 % of the 5-square-mile burn zone had been surveyed by specialized search and recovery teams. Officials said that all the recognizable human remains to be found had been recovered, leaving in doubt whether the true number of people killed in the inferno that destroyed over 2, 200 structures, most of them residences, will ever be known.

Officials added that efforts to recover and identify bone fragments and other partial remains will be ongoing as the ruins of Lahaina are cleared.

Since Thursday, the county's daily fire update has reported that 99 % of the disaster area had been searched. When asked about the discrepancy, a county Joint Information Center spokesperson said, "We backed it up to 99 % because the government (Federal Emergency Management Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Maui County ...) will always be looking. There are still those that are unaccounted for. It will remain at 99 % until all are found. The search for those unaccounted for will continue."

The FBI and MPD on Friday released still unaccounted-for in the wake of the deadly fire and are seeking information on scores of others who were included on a much longer list released the previous week.

MPD has yet to officially acknowledge the death of Kirk Carter, 44, of Lahaina, who died Aug. 15 at Straub Medical Center's Burn Unit in Honolulu. The department did not respond to Honolulu Star-Advertiser requests last week asking why Carter's name has not been added to, even though the Honolulu Medical Examiner confirmed his identity and notified his family almost a month ago. MPD also did not respond to a request to clarify whether Carter is included in its wildfire death toll of 115.

MEANWHILE, the families and friends of those who died in the Lahaina fire are struggling to deal with that knowledge, along with their own losses.

Davilynn Severson recalls saying goodbye to her uncle, David Nuesca Jr., 59, on Aug. 8 as she departed from their longtime family home on Malolo Place. Both her husband and 4-year-old daughter suffer from bad asthma, she said, and they wanted to leave before the smoke from the wildfire worsened.

Four generations of their extended family lived in two homes on a property that was built by her grandparents.

"Everything happened so fast, as everyone knows in Lahaina. That fire was definitely devastating, " said Severson, 32. "But that was our third fire that we fought in Lahaina. Including myself, we didn't think this fire was going to turn out to be that way.

"The last conversation that I had with my uncle was, 'I 'll see you later.'"

Before they left, Nuesca tried to reassure his niece that everything would be OK.

"My uncle said, 'Nah, no worries ; not going come down here.'

"I'm not sure what my uncle's last words would have been, but what I believe, when I talk about my uncle, is definitely he would've just stayed with the house."

Nuesca's name was released Aug. 27 by MPD as one of the 115 Lahaina wildfire fatalities.

The happy-go-lucky Nuesca was raised in Kahana and Lahaina, Severson said. In his younger years he paddled for Kahana Canoe Club in a dominating crew known as the "egg-­beaters, " because "they were untouchable, " according to his niece.

"As a brother, an uncle, and grand-uncle, he was always willing to give anything he had, especially to the kids, and lived the simple life of enjoying each day and each other's company."

Eleven other family members escaped Lahaina safely and for now are living in different locations, adding to their sadness and grief. Severson and her husband and daughter received a voucher to stay in a Kihei Airbnb unit but will have to move Sept. 27, she said.

"It just sucks and it's sad that we're all kind of scattered, because there's not really a place that can hold all of us at once, and we do have a couple dogs, " she said. "So it's frustrating and hard to find help and hope."

Anyone wishing to assist the family may donate directly to them through her mother's @cganer Venmo account.

RETIRED FISHING charter captain John "Thumper " McCarthy, 74, was a fixture at the Lahaina Yacht Club on Front Street.

"He greeted everyone with a personal greeting, loved to see people, loved to be around everybody, " said Dave Schubert, yacht club commodore. "To be fair, Front Street has probably been his life longer than the eight years I've known him, whether he was at the yacht club or whether he used to go Pi Artisan (Pizzeria ), or on days we weren't open even the Lahaina Fish Co. He had a little scooter for the last couple of years and would go up and down the street. He knew everybody."

To celebrate his 70th birthday, Schubert said an impromptu parade was held with McCarthy sitting in the back of a convertible cruising up and down Front Street accompanied by honking horns.

Friends previously had rallied around McCarthy last summer with a GoFundMe fundraiser to help with his recovery after a fall that affected his mobility.

Originally from Newport Beach, Calif., his remains were found at his home off Front Street. MPD released McCarthy's name Sept. 3.

"The outpouring over the weeks of uncertainly when we didn't know, we were getting phone calls, messages and emails from the mainland asking, 'How's Thumper ?' We was extremely well-known and extremely missed, " Schubert said. "We're missing a huge part of our yacht club."

The venerable Lahaina Yacht Club also lost its 58-year-old clubhouse in the fire. The club has 800 members, including 400 on Maui, and hosts the biennial Vic-Maui Yacht Race, first contested in 1965, from Victoria, British Columbia, to Lahaina.

Losses included boats used in the club's popular summer sailing classes for youngsters, according to Schubert, who lost his home in the fire, escaping the flames with his girlfriend with only 20 minutes to spare.

The yacht club's auxiliary group has been making checks of members and staff, and so far McCarthy is the only one known to have died in the fire. A relief fund has been set up to assist employees, about a dozen of whom lost their homes, at.

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After the fire: St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club focused on revitalizing this coming summer

P ANAMA CITY — In November, the St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club building on Bunkers Cove Road was destroyed in a fire. Ever since then, questions have circulated around the community: How did the fire start? Would the Yacht Club rebuild?

The Yacht Club was up and operational for business within weeks of the fire. The Yacht Club is still taking in new members, as well. Members have joined the club even after the fire.

”The Yacht Club is in better shape than people would have imagined,” said Michael Wynn, 2024 commodore. “The staff members that we have are family to us. We believe and give to them and they give back to us.”

Wynn explained that one club member had this to say after the fire: “The clubhouse was just a building; the Yacht Club is about the people.”

The Yacht Club has discussed expanding its sailing center to provide greater resources for the community. The club expects the plans and renderings for the new club facility will be unveiled this summer.

Some of the staff members have left the club since the incident and others have stayed.

“Our staff is smaller now since the fire,” said Wynn. “We have less services being offered at the moment, but many staffers who left the club for other jobs have offered to come back once the club becomes (fully) operational again.”

The cause of the fire is still unknown. There have been different ideas and theories on how the fire started, but there has not been a definitive answer. But there was no foul play, Wynn emphasized.

”Right now, we don’t have a final number on what it’s going to cost to rebuild,” said Wynn. “We have architects and plans on rebuilding. We have members of the community who are donating services to help cut the cost (of our rebuild).”

More information about the club will be released closer to the clubhouse reopening. Wynn said the rebuild will both honor the club's history and heritage and also add modern touches.

Previous coverage: More details released as Panama City monitors St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club fire site

Wynn said the club's experience dealing with insurance after the fire has been good and the matter soon will be resolved. The experience was much better than the ones many people had after Hurricane Michael, he noted.

Wynn also is humbled and gratified by the outpouring of support and dedication from his fellow club leaders and all club members. He knew his one-year term as commodore, which began in January, would be full of challenges. But the club has rallied because the tradition and legacy mean so much.

"People care so deeply," he said.

News Herald Editor Jim Ross contributed to this report

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This article originally appeared on The News Herald: After the fire: St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club focused on revitalizing this coming summer