"During practice, at about 3.30pm, I received a call from a parent at the school. She said: Ryan, there's a fire in town. We've lost our house. We barely got out alive. Theirs was one of the first houses to go. Then I received another call from another family. Ryan, our whole neighbourhood just went up in flames. Lahaina is small, but those houses are in different parts of Lahaina."
"Just after, around 5pm, all our cellphones went out. There's still no power, no communication, no information. I came home, slightly aware of what was starting. Before the phones went out, a few families had called and asked if they could come to our house. As we went to bed, they showed up. They were like: We got evacuated. It was just precautionary. We think we'll be able to go back in the morning"
Ryan Kirkham was principal of Maui Prep for 13 years when the 2023 wildfires struck Lahaina, killing 102 people and causing nearly $3.3bn in insured losses. Climate change has increased drought severity in the islands, raising wildfire risk. Power and communications failed early in the event, with lines and trees down and cellphones going out by about 5pm. Families called during school volleyball practice to report homes ablaze and evacuations. Hundreds of homes lay between burning neighborhoods. Evacuees sought shelter at the school and nearby homes, arriving overnight believing the evacuation to be precautionary and expecting to return the next morning.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]