Current Events > Lahaina Town, and its cultural heritage, destroyed in Hawaii wildfires.

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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/08/10/lahaina-town-destroyed-maui-wildfires-what-to-know/70564782007/

More than 250 structures were damaged or destroyed, according to Maui County, as entire blocks of Lahaina once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii went up in smoke. Lahaina Town has also long claimed home to the largest banyan tree in the U.S., which was scorched in the fires. The fire spread and grew faster than anyone could have imagined. In a few hours, the wind-driven blaze tore through popular Front Street and decimated the town center, which traces its roots to the 1700s and was on the National Register of Historic Places. Lahaina Town is now burned down to ashes, the whole entire town hotels, buildings, the historic sites,'' said Leomana Turalde. He told USA TODAY his mother, Jon Hookano, 56, worked for years as a dancer at Old Lahaina Luau, considered a "well-preserved epicenter of Hawaiian culture and storytelling," the venue says on its website. More than 1,000 years ago, long before the U.S. was founded, people were living on the Hawaiian islands and leaving their mark. From the years 1,000-1,200, people from Polynesia traveled about 2,500 miles north and settled on the islands of Hawaii, the National Park Service says on its website. Throughout history, different Hawaiian rulers vied for power over the islands, and Lahaina was consistently a site of royal and religious importance with its cemeteries and historic churches. Waiola Church, which burned in the fire, was the site of the start of Christianity in Hawaii in the early 1800s, according to the church's website.

Locals say losing so much of Lahaina is painful because the culture the place represents connects to a time with revered roots. For Francine Hollinger, a 66-year-old Native Hawaiian, losing Lahaina was "like losing a family member." Because theyll never be able to rebuild it, like we wouldnt be able to bring back our mother or father, she said. While its still difficult to assess the damage, state Sen. Gilbert Keith-Agaran told USA TODAY various landmarks have reportedly been lost historic businesses and cemeteries where royal figures were buried. Its a real loss. Hawaii and Maui have tried really hard to preserve and protect those places for many, many years not for the sake of tourism but because its part of our cultural heritage, said Keith-Agaran, whose district includes Kahului in central Maui. We just lost a large part of our heritage, he said.

This makes me so sad. Our honeymoon was on Maui exactly two years ago- if this would have happened at that time, we would have been caught up in it. We saw and took photos at the Banyan tree and walked through Old Lahaina. We loved it there and hoped to return someday. Some of my family were planning to visit later this year. This is such a shame and really sucks.

I feel so bad for all the people who live there.

This is so terrible. We vacationed as a family in Hawaii years ago and stayed in Lahaina during the Maui half of the trip. It was the nicest place we visited, and I've always had a dream in the back of my head that I'd have enough money one day to buy my parents a home there for their retirement.

Obviously this is a completely irrational / ignorant assumption, but it always felt like the kind of place that wouldn't be touched by things like this.