Maui residents describe fleeing the fire that killed dozens

“When I turned that corner, I saw chaos,” he said. “I saw people running, grabbing their kids, screaming, jumping around in their cars.”

Cichino and his neighbors began a desperate struggle for their lives around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday. They have only a moment to make a decision that will determine their survival against their opponents. flame — A harrowing, narrow window of time in one of the most gruesome and deadly events natural disaster The country has seen this over the years.

have not sirenno one holding a megaphone, no one telling anyone what to do: they are alone with their families and neighbors choosing whether to stay or flee, and where – via smoke so thick Flames approached from all directions, cars exploded, power lines toppled, trees were uprooted, and the fire rained down with the wind.

Authorities confirmed at least 96 people died – already the deadliest American wildfire Over 100 years, they expect that number to rise.

Just 10 minutes before Cichino turned to leave the street, Maui fire officials issued an ominous warning. The Lahaina brush fire started that morning, but authorities reported it was under control. Unstable winds, challenging terrain and flying embers are now making it difficult to predict the path and speed of the fire, officials said. Fire Deputy Chief Jeff Giesea said it could be a mile away, “but in a minute or two, it could be at your house.”

Cichino turned around and ran into his house, telling his wife they needed to leave: “We need to go! We need to get out of here now!”

They ran to the car with the five dogs and called the police, who said to watch out for traffic. Access to the main highway, the only road in and out of Lahaina, was cut off by roadblocks erected by authorities. A roadblock forced Cichino and a convoy of cars onto Front Street.

A few blocks away, Kehau Kaauwai said the wind was so strong that the roof of a neighbor’s home was blown off. It felt like tornado after tornado hit her street.

“It growled,” she said. “It sounded like a plane had landed on our street.”

Moments later, smoke suddenly engulfed them a few blocks away, she said. The sky turned from gray to black, and day seemed to turn into night.

Kaowei can’t even see the buildings anymore. Something is exploding; it sounds like fireworks. She ran in. She couldn’t think – she just grabbed her dog and some clothes, never imagining that she’d never see her house or anything in it again.

Around four o’clock in the afternoon, she got into the car. Traffic was jammed and uprooted trees were dragged from the road with their bare hands. Debris was blown in the wind and hit the car. Danger seems to come from all sides.

Kaauwai had planned to drive to Front Street, but a stranger passing by told her to go the other way. She wishes she could thank him now, because he might have saved her life.

On the traffic-choked Front Street, people panicked, cried, screamed and honked their horns.

Bill Wyland grabbed his computer, passport, and Social Security card and stuffed them into his backpack. He rode a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and drove on the sidewalk.

“I could feel the fire on my back. I could almost feel the hair on the back of my neck burning,” said Wyland, who owns an art gallery down the street.

At one point, he passed a man on a bicycle who was pedaling frantically to escape. Some abandoned their cars and fled on foot. The smoke was so thick and toxic that some said they threw up.

“It’s like something you’d see in a ‘Twilight Saga’ horror movie or whatever,” Wieland said.

The streets were so congested that he thought if he drove he might die or be forced into the sea. People sitting in the car saw black smoke billowing ahead.

“We’re all heading into a death trap,” thought Mike Cichino. He told his wife: “We need to jump out of this car, ditch this car, we need to run for our lives.”

They rescued the dog. But it is impossible to know which way to run.

“Behind us, in front of us, around us, everything was on fire,” Cichino said. It had been less than 15 minutes since he left the house, and he thought it was over. He called his mother, brother, daughter and told them he loved them.

The black smoke was so thick that they could only see the white dog but not the three black dogs, and they lost their way.

A propane tank exploded in a food truck.

“It’s like a war,” Cichino said. They can tell how close the fire is based on how far away the sound of the car erupts.

“The car sounded like a bomb went off,” says Donny Rocks. “It was dark, it was 4pm, it looked like midnight.”

With a seawall separating the town from the ocean, Rox realizes that he and his neighbors face a dire decision: stay on the burning land or go to the water. Even for strong swimmers, the sea is full of churning and danger as the wind whips up the waves.

“Would you like to be burned or to take your chances and drown?” he asked himself. He jumped over the wall.

So did dozens of others, including Mike Cichino and his wife.

Others came to realize they needed to flee — but not because officials told them. Some people hear about it from friends and neighbors, others just have a feeling.

“There was no warning. Absolutely nothing,” Lynn Robinson said. “No one came. We didn’t see a fire truck or anyone.”

She left the apartment near Front Street around 4:30. About a mile away, Lana Vierra’s boyfriend stopped at her home and said he saw the fire roaring toward them.

“He told me straight up, ‘People in this town are going to die; you have to get out,'” she recalls. So she did.

Anne Langdon is chatting with other people in her high-end apartment complex. She said she suddenly felt a gust of hot wind, and the temperature must have exceeded 100 degrees. She ran to her unit and grabbed her purse and her 15-pound dog, La Vida.

“It’s time to get out! Let’s get out!” she yelled to neighbors as she rushed to her car.

She already packs a rolling duffle bag in the car, just in case. She didn’t know where to go. She stopped to question a police officer, who didn’t know what to tell her other than to wish her luck.

Fragments danced in the air. She meets people she barely knows but recognizes. They asked her to come with them to their house. They got stuck in traffic, so they abandoned the car. She put the dog on a rolling suitcase and dragged it down Front Street to the beach.

Historic timber buildings in the city center are burning. The splintered wood splintered and flew in the wind, still burning.

“The sky was dark, the wind was blowing, and embers were flying over our heads. We didn’t know if we had to jump into the water,” she said. “I was scared, very scared – very, very scared.”

But a road temporarily disappeared in the smoke, and police came and shouted for them to go north. they run.

Many people are still stranded on the beach.

Mike Cichino and his wife took off their shirts, submerged them in the water and tried to cover their faces. Cicino was running up and down the sea wall, calling the name of his lost dog. He saw the body lying against the wall. “Help me,” people screamed. The elderly and disabled cannot climb over the wall by themselves. Some were badly burned, and Cicchino lifted them as best he could. He ran until he was spit out by the smoke, his eyes were so swollen he could barely keep them open.

For the next five or six hours, they moved back and forth between the sea and the coast. They squatted behind the wall, trying to get as low as possible. They doused themselves in the water as flames fell from the sky. The fur of their surviving dog was charred.

It was so surreal that Cichino thought he must be dreaming.

“My mind kept going: This must have just been a nightmare. This can’t be real. This can’t actually happen,” he said. “But then you realize you’re burning. I feel pain, but in a nightmare I don’t feel pain.”

The U.S. Coast Guard was first notified of the fire at 5:45 p.m. when the Honolulu Search and Rescue Command Center received reports of people in the waters off Lahaina, Honolulu Coast Guard Division Commander Capt. Aja Kirksee said. .

The boats were difficult to see because of the smoke, but Cichino and others used cellphones to flash lights on the boats, guiding them in to rescue some people, mostly children. Fire engines eventually arrived and rushed them from the flames.

Those who survived were haunted by what they experienced.

Cichino woke up in the middle of the night from a dream of dead people and dogs. Two of his dogs are still missing. He agonizes over the decisions he has made: Can he save more people? Can he save those dogs?

Anne Langdon was almost catatonic. She pictured her neighbors who hadn’t escaped, and wondered if she could help them. She was covered in ashes, but she couldn’t take a bath.

Her dog has not eaten for two days.