The Daily - What Lahaina Lost in Hawaii’s Wildfires

Episode Date: August 14, 2023

Last week, wildfires broke out on the Hawaiian island of Maui that became the deadliest in the United States in over a century. The town of Lahaina, once the royal capital of the kingdom of Hawaii, was one of the places hit hardest — its historic center was decimated, including Waiola Church, the oldest on the island and a cherished meeting place.Today, the minister of Waiola Church, Anela Rosa, explains what it means to lose Lahaina and what it will take to rebuild it.Guest: Anela Rosa, minister of Waiola Church in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii.Background reading: Lahaina was once Hawaii’s royal capital, and there were fears that some of its oldest buildings had been destroyed by the wildfires.A journey through Lahaina’s endless streets of suffering.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Anela, for someone who's never been to Lahaina town, can you paint a picture of the town for me? I mean, if I were to walk down Front Street, say, what would I see? You could probably see the man on his bike with his parrot on his shoulder, just riding along. shoulder just riding along. You will probably see an elder sitting on the side and just saying hello to everybody, making time to talk story if you wanted to talk story. You'll see people sitting under the tree, what we call Campbell Park by the Pioneer Inn, which is a nice shady area. It's not too far from the banyan tree. Or if you're under the banyan tree, you'll see people sitting on the benches, either having lunch or just taking pictures or just relaxing. You'll see people walking down, having ice cream from David Lafferth on the corner. You'll see people going into the ABC store, buying t-shirts and little memorabilia or souvenirs.

You'll see people along the wall, what we call the wall, where there was no shop, it was just a wall walkway, standing there looking at the water, the ebb tide going in and out, taking pictures, looking at all the sailboats, and just enjoying the ambiance of Front Street. You walk down further, you see more restaurants, there's art galleries, there's the famous ululani shaved ice that people just draw to the line was always long because on a hot day having the shaved ice was such a treat to cool you off

and you know just walking down and going into the stores and just seeing, you know, all the people there and walking by and just a sense of peace, really. Yeah, it's all gone. It's all gone. From The New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tavernisi, and this is The Daily. Last week, wildfires broke out on the Hawaiian island of Maui. They burned so uncontrollably and so quickly that some people had to swim into the sea to survive. As the weekend came to a close, the devastation came into focus. More than 1,000 people are missing, and 96 people are dead,

making it the deadliest fire in the United States in over a century. One of the hardest-hit places was the town of Lahaina on the island's northwestern edge. Lahaina was once the royal capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii. The fire decimated its historic center and, at its heart, Waiola Church, the oldest on the island and a cherished meeting place for Hawaiians. Today, the minister of that church, Anela Rosa, talks about what it means to lose Lahaina,

and what it will take to rebuild it. It's Monday, August 14th. Anela, may I call you Anela? Yes, of course. Hi, honey. Oh, I love you too, Ine. Thank you. You're welcome.

Have a wonderful trip. Okay. Okay. You guys probably need like 20 minutes. Okay. All right. Sorry. My niece.

Who was that? My niece came by. They're loading up the cars. My cousin has a big boat, so they're going to load up the boat and take supplies to Lahaina to the ocean. They need gas. There's no gas station that has gas on the other side. So the cars are running out of gas.

Oh, my gosh. Okay. She said they're doing a convoy with the police. So they're taking ice and supplies and all that. So they're gathering all that stuff. While I'm talking to you, I'm not going to do any labor. Do you need to go? I don't want to keep you from an important task like that.

No. No, I have nieces and nephews. They would never let me work anyway. They would just do the work. They wouldn't let me do anything. That's fine. Okay. So, Anela, I wanted to go back to the beginning.

Tell me a little bit about yourself. Where did you grow up? Well, my family is originally from the south side of Maui in an area called Maukena. I come from a very, very big family. And as a child, my grandmother had a point of taking us, the grandchildren, to Lahaina because it's her stomping grounds. My grandmother was a hard woman. If you didn't know her well, you wouldn't be able to get along with her. She didn't take any crap from anybody, not even from her kids or grandchildren or anybody else but she was raised as a catholic we went to the catholic church she showed us where her two brothers were buried

so let us know that this is family this is where she's from this is where she grew up she gave us her history she took us down to Street. They used to have an old theater. They had a restaurant there where you'd grab small bits of pieces to make a little what they call bento, which is like a takeout lunch. She took us to the beach that they went to to go fishing

and she took us there to have a picnic. So my ties to La Jolla is to her. And then when I was in my mid-20s, I think, the job opportunity came available in the mid-80s. I moved to Lahaina, and I have been there ever since. So how was it? What was it like moving there? What was it like living there once you got there? It was, I liked it. I really did.

I liked the busyness of Lahaina. Rode my bike into Lahaina town afternoons after my shift. And I saw a lot of tourists. You don't see too many local people down in French Street. You see a lot of tourists because it is a tourist attraction. And you see the excitement in French Street. You see a lot of tourists because it is a tourist attraction. And you see the excitement in the visitors. You see the excitement as they see something new or something they've never seen before. And it's a good thing to know that we grew up here. We know this. We see this all the time, but we cannot take it for granted.

And I was looking for a church, but I wasn't anxious because I still wanted to play and have my fun. And then eventually I hooked up with my aunt and my uncle Earl. They said, come to our church, which was Waiala. Just come to our church. So I did. And the church was always full. We had to sit on the outside because church was just packed in those days. And I kept coming and coming and coming. And that's what started my adventure at Loyola. So eventually I got involved with the church in different capacities from a young adult leader to serving as a deacon,

serving as a board member, being a treasurer, because I felt that it was important that my young voice was heard amongst these elders because they're not going to be around for very long. And I need to learn from them what they did, what their thoughts were, so that we could carry on the history and the foundation of Waiala Church. And I'm not sure if you're aware that we celebrated our 200th anniversary just a few months ago. Oh my goodness, your 200th. Yeah, we're the very first church that was built and founded on Maui. Can you just tell me the history of the church? So the church was founded by Queen Te Opu Lani. And she was the highest ranked queen or highest ranked ali'i in entire Hawaii.

When the missionaries came, I think their first boat landed in 1820. And, you know, in the old days, you know, Hawaiians had their own gods. But she decided to open the doors and say, no, let's hear what the gospel is saying. And let's hear what these missionaries are sharing. So she heard it in Oahu, loved it, came to Maui, brought them and wanted the Lahaina people, her people of Lahaina, to hear the same word, to hear what she heard.

So having that under our belt, it meant a lot. It meant a lot for us as a community, for our church, Waiala. So anyway, one particular minister who was helping us, she was what we called an interim. She said, you know, Anela, you have great leadership skills. You should look into becoming a pastor. I'm like, eh, eh. I am like the farthest, perfect person from being a pastor. I said, I still want to do bad stuff. Oh, God, I'm like the last person, please. I still swear. She said, no, no, no.

So I said, okay, I'll just go to classes. We'll see. It was a long journey. What changed your mind, Anela? Why did you decide to become a minister? I mean, you sort of felt like you still wanted to do bad things, right? What happened? What changed?

I'm not saying I'm perfect. And I tell my congregation every time, I am not a perfect person, so don't look at me for that kind of stuff. You're not going to get it. I wanted to help Waiola because in the time of trying to find a full-time ordained minister,

there weren't many local young people going to seminary school because it was quite expensive and coming back to preach in our local churches. So the last one, two, three, maybe I think the last three or four ministers we had were all from the mainland. They weren't from Hawaii. So in order for me to make sure that our culture is taken into consideration in everything that we do, and in order to make sure that the people are comfortable,

because I never want our ordained ministers that come from the mainland not understand the history of our church or of the people, because it's very, very important. So, Inela, part of your decision to become a licensed minister for this church is to carry forward the legacy of it in some ways, your history, your culture, to make sure it survived and the culture around it survived. Yes, that's exactly what it was. And that's exactly what it is. And, you know, when they say that it takes a village to raise a child, this is exactly how La'aina has been, that I have witnessed. I have no children, but there are children in my life that I have watched grown up. I have watched marry.

I have watched have children. I have watched them. Maybe the child that I baptized 20 years ago comes back and tells me, Auntie, you know, they don't always call me Kalo, but Auntie, you baptized me. I said, yeah, I remember. I said, so what are you doing here today? So, oh, I have a baby. It's okay.

So they remember, or I've watched them grow up. And if I called him by name, I remember having this one boy who was about nine years old. I called him by his first name. He goes, how do you know me? I said, because I baptized you. You did? I said, yeah, well, talk to your mom. I said, i baptized you you did i said yeah well talk to

your mom i said i baptized you so i watched you you better be good at he goes whoa i mean you know those those things so this community this village is intense everyone knows everyone everyone knows your parents everyone knows your grandparents so you really can't get away with much because people are watching but they're also guiding you they can't get away with much because people are watching, but they're also guiding you. They're also protecting you as much as they can. That's how strong this community is. And Ella, do you remember what it felt like giving the first sermon that you gave?

Do you remember walking into the church and talking in front of people for the first time? What was that like? Oh, my God. I can never forget that because I still have moments. My stomach turned and, I mean, I was just, I was in pieces. You know, when I stepped up to the pulpit, I actually had to wait to take the last step up. And I looked out to the graveyard because our pulpit is on that side of the cemetery. to the graveyard because our pulpit is on that side of the cemetery. I looked out to the graveyard and Uncle Earl's dad, my granduncle, is buried out there with his wife and his family. He was also a minister and he was very well known. He was very popular in Lahaina and all over the island. So I

looked down and said, Titu man, help me. Please give me the strength. Do what I need to do so the people can help me and I can help them. You looked out the window and saw the grave of your uncle's father, and that gave you strength. It did, because his headstone stands out. It's a kind of big black one. It's right in line with the pulpit.

So I look at that. I mean, I still look at it. Even when I'm sitting down listening to music, I look out there and I look and I'm thinking, you set the foundation for my family, for all those behind me, for the legacy behind me that I'm trying to carry forward and the support in that way. But my stomach still turns even to this day after 13 years when I step up to the pulpit and I still look out and I said to Jermaine, Papa, please help me. Please guide me. Let the words come out. Oh, Judy.

She's just trying to call on my other phone. I'm trying to get a hold of her for the last three days because our conference is trying to send us money, but the banks in Lahaina has burned. The PO box, our post office has burned. So I told them you can't send a check because we have no place to get the mail. It won't work. The post office is gone. Yeah,

my mind is just going in 20 different places. Can you call me maybe in about 10 minutes and let me get some things cleared up with Judy? Okay, call you back. Okay, bye. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Anila, can you tell me when you first heard about the fire? Where were you at that moment? Well, the initial fire in the morning, we were driving out to go to take care of some appointments in the morning. About 11 o'clock, we left our home. I live in a subdivision, which is probably about three or four miles from the church. And as we're trying to make our way out, we knew that the fire had happened, but we had connections with someone at the police station, our neighbor, she works there.

So we called her, she rolled open. She goes, it is, but it's hard because the winds are blowing. There's debris on the ground, but you can get out. And I said, what about the fire? She said, right now it's contained, but they're just hoping that it doesn't flare up again. I said, okay. So we went thinking, okay, they'll get it contained. So on our way back about two o'clock in the afternoon, we got stopped in traffic on the bypass. You couldn't even see the ocean. You couldn't see the island of Lanai out there because the smoke was just carrying. The fire was on the top part of the bypass, and it had run across to the bottom part of the bypass. All we saw was black smoke, then some white smoke, and then more black smoke.

And I said, oh my God, there's a little house down there right where the fire was. And it's right above the subdivision down by the water. Oh my God, this fire is going to go across the street to the families down there, right where the fire was. And it's right above the subdivision down by the water. Oh my God, this fire is going to go across the street to the families down there. We have a member that lived there, can't get through. We couldn't call anybody. Self-service was down. So I couldn't get through to anyone. I didn't know where she was. Didn't know if she was okay. Then the police came. This is already five hours sitting. They told us that we need to evacuate. People were just moving back. They weren't leaving. They were just moving back, hoping that the road would open.

So I looked at my cousin who was with me, a girl's daughter, and I told her, what do you want to do? Do you want to go to Melanie's house in Wayahook or do you want to just stay in the line? She said, no, let's just go to Wayahook, and let's just hang out there until they open the road. And then the fire moved north towards where Uncle Earl, the minister that I talked about, my uncle and auntie, their house burned. I see.

And my niece finally got a hold of me today, because I didn't know where they were. We couldn't find them. We couldn't get out. Oh, no. Oh, my gosh. Where are they? So she finally called. She said, oh, Auntie, we're fine.

But she said, Auntie, I don't know about our house. She said, honey, the house is gone. I said, Titu and Papa's house is gone. Your house is gone. Dad's house is gone. Anela, did you say that your house was gone? No, my house is fine. My nephew made it to our house.

He was dousing our house from yesterday with water just to make sure that it didn't catch on fire. Wow. When did you discover that the fire had started to move north toward the church? When I saw a posting on either Facebook or Instagram that somebody shared with me, and they said, Wayola Church. So I looked at it, and it was just not the church, just the hall. That's what that picture is. And it was just in flames, just flying flames.

Did you think you'd lost it? I did, because the young man that lives in the corner, Tama, who is our member, he's the one that takes care of our graveyard. So he was there trying to shoot water on the building, trying to save it. But he said the police came, told him he had to evacuate. He said already the hall was up in flames. He said the church, a spark had already hit the roof, but he didn't know how it was left because he had to evacuate.

And then today someone texted me a picture of the church. The front of the building, which is all concrete, and the back building is still standing, but everything in the middle, all wood is gone. Our hall, which is all wood, is gone. The building behind it, there are three structures. The building behind it, which we housed our pulana leo, which is the preschool Hawaiian immersion, that building is gone. What was it like to see that? When you got that text on your phone, what was the first thing that came to your mind? Well, it was a little bit of delight because not everything was taken.

I mean, I had heard rumors that the church was completely down to the ground. And then when I saw the picture, I looked at the front lawn. It was still green. The tea leaves were still green. A little bit of the foundation is still there. And the backside where we had stained glass windows, they're still standing. And the front door that had stained glass windows, they're still standing. But to see at least that part, there's hope.

You know, we had a meeting last night with our conference minister and other pastors. And I told him, I said, you know, it's just a building. I want to make sure that our congregation is safe, our community, the people are safe. And it may sound cliche, but it really, you know, we can rebuild. The church has a history of rebuilding itself, and we will. But my concern really at the moment was the people, making sure that everybody was safe. And how are the people, Anila? As far as I can see,y was the last one i shouldn't say last person she's one of the persons i couldn't get a hold of gordon who was also a strong member just left the board but he was part of our building and grounds he lived down the road i don't know where he is i

haven't heard from him and then the church has rentals behind the wharf, which is further down the street. Some of them were evacuated. And I think I heard that one of our church members who lives there, he was evacuated and he's fine. One other person that lives behind the wharf, Susan, I don't know where she is, but I'm trying to find out from other people, you know, have you been in contact with so-and-so? And everyone's looking for each other. I mean, I don't even have to ask. They're like, oh, I saw Kaina or I can't get a hold of her. Oh, I saw Claire.

She's in key here, you know, you know, things like that. So they're reaching out to let me know that if they've reached someone, then they let me know or they let each other know. So because, I mean, our congregation, everybody's worried about each other. Yeah. So it sounds like there's still a small handful of people who are missing. There is, yeah. I'm just thinking that they're safe, but there's just no way to communicate with them. That's what I'm praying for.

Right, that there's just not signal where they happen to be right now. Right. Have you lost anybody outside your congregation, Anela? I don't know. Because the first count of six people, I don't know who they were. The next count that came out of 30-something, I don't know who they were. So I'm not sure. I mean, just your heart, just everything that this catastrophe can be as big as it was.

And seeing all the pictures, seeing the helicopter that took the video, I'm like, oh, my gosh. This is devastating. I just couldn't come out. And I had my moments where I just started crying because look at me now. Thinking about all the families, the friends, you know, and the loss. And we don't know how many people we lost and there's still people missing and not accounted for. So amongst the rubbish or whatever that's left to ash, I'm sure they'll find probably people of all those people that passed.

I'm sure we'll know a few of them. Because again, it's a small community. Anela, what does Front Street look like now? Ash. Honestly, just ash. It looks like destruction. I only know what a war zone looks like from pictures that I watched on movies, but it was described as a war zone. The pictures that were shared on the internet, videos,

you could barely recognize where the places were. And I'm looking at them and I'm like, oh gosh, that's the harbor. I said, oh, okay, that building is set up by the banyan tree. I said, oh, that's the Port Cochere where the people used to wait for their boats, and they're moving along the line, and I'm like, where is that? I mean, I just, I couldn't place it. I'm like, oh my gosh, it's coming up to the elementary school, and I'm only seeing pictures, so until I'm there for the moment,

and to grasp the moment, and just take a deep breath, and say, we walked here, we talked here, we ate here, we sat here, we sang here, you know, we did all of those things. And until that happens, it's hard to grasp. It's really hard to put it into words. Yeah. Do you have plans to go to see with your own eyes in the coming days, if you can? If they open the road, I want to go home and look at the church and just, you know, see it for myself with my own eyes.

Will you have a church service this Sunday? If I get back home, I'll be there. If I get home and they allow me to go down to that area, I will show up. get home and they allow me to go down to that area, I will show up. I won't have a service prepared as I normally do, but if there's still shaded area right at the edge between the graveyard and the church, so we'll probably sit around there if I can get chairs and just probably do a prayer and just hear from everybody and let everybody just speak their voice and just share, you know, what their needs are and see if we can we we can cuckoo them in any way by reaching out. It feels like it's important. Yeah. You know, I remember the history of when Queen Liliuokalani was being overthrown

and the congregation at that time, the minister was on the side of overthrowing the queen, where the congregation was not. So the doors of the church were closed, but the people, they had church somewhere else until they were able to get that pastor out, and then they came back to the church. So I think coming think thinking of that story, that always comes back to me. I'm like, those are strong congregants. That's what this church is about. It's about surviving. It's about being together.

And I hope that this is where we move forward from with the congregation now. I really hope so. And I have faith in my congregation that they will. I believe their belief is very strong and their faith is very strong. Inela, thank you so much for your time and for talking to me, even though I know you have so much going on. You're welcome. Thank you.

Bye. Okay. Aloha. Bye. Aloha. Aloha. After several attempts to reach her church over the weekend, Anela was unable to get there. She said rescue workers had blocked off the area and told people to stay away as they continued to identify victims.

The recovery effort was hampered by the sheer scale of the destruction. Over 2,000 buildings were destroyed, the vast majority residential. And authorities estimated it would cost over $5 billion to rebuild. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. after negotiations to revive a plea deal on tax and gun charges fell apart. Up until a few days ago, the two sides had been hoping to salvage the deal.

But that effort hit a snag when Biden demanded blanket immunity from future prosecution. As special counsel, David Weiss, who's also the U.S. attorney in Delaware, can now pursue charges in any jurisdiction he chooses without seeking the cooperation of local federal prosecutors. The move raised the possibility that Biden could be tried in the politically charged case and that the 2024 election could have questions about the legal fate not only of a former president,

but also of the current president's son. Today's episode was reported by Lindsay Garrison with help from Asit Chaturvedi. It was produced by Lindsay Garrison, Asit Chaturvedi, and Rob Zipko. It was edited by Mark George with help from Lisa Chow, Michael Benoit, and Devin Taylor. Fact-Checked by Susan Lee contains original music by Dan Powell and Marion Lozano

and was engineered by Alyssa Moxley. Our theme music is by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsberg of Wonder League. That's it for The Daily. I'm Sabrina Tavernisi. See you tomorrow.