Amid grief and loss, Maui residents and businesses continue wildfire recovery

Amna Nawaz:

Tomorrow marks one month since the wildfires in Maui raged out of control, claiming too many victims and destroying an historic part of the island.

Now residents and businesses are trying to recover and eventually rebuild, amid so much grief and loss.

The flames have died down, but Maui is still mourning all that was lost.

Tiare Lawrence, Maui Resident:

We haven't even had the first funeral yet, and they're already talking about rebuilding Lahaina?

Amna Nawaz:

It was one month ago that wildfires broke out on Maui. They blazed through West Maui, scorching Lahaina, once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Hundreds of structures were destroyed.

Kehau Kaauwa, Lahaina Resident:

Within minutes, our whole neighborhood was covered in smoke, and we were just fighting to get out of here.

Amna Nawaz:

Some could only escape by fleeing into the water. The death toll now stands at 115, the deadliest American wildfire in more than a century. The official missing person list is at 385. Thousands of people are staying in temporary shelters across the island.

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI):

These fires took so much from so many, but the spirit of aloha, of love, kindness, and care for one another continues.

Amna Nawaz:

But, as residents recover, potential tourists aren't sure what to do with upcoming trips booked to Maui. The Hawaiian Tourism Authority published a map with areas still affected by the fires. They discourage all nonessential travel to West Maui, but encourage tourists to visit other parts of Maui or the rest of the Hawaiian Islands.

Some local officials want to ensure that embracing tourism doesn't come at the expense of residents.

Tamara Paltin, Member, Maui City Council:

We can put 100 percent of our efforts into the recovery, or we can put 100 percent of our efforts into hosting tourists. But if we try to do both, I don't think we will do a good job at either.

Amna Nawaz:

With this essential piece of the economy missing, it's not clear if the island can afford to recover without visitors.

Gov. Josh Green (D-HI):

I am advancing now the discussion about when West Maui will open again beyond Lahaina, because we want to protect the economy for everyone who's working.

Amna Nawaz:

Local business owners are trying to spread the word that Maui is open.

Wendy Frog, Boss Frog’s Snorkeling Gear:

You're being told that Maui is closed. We are not closed. We are very much open for business. And it feels like a second victimization.

Amna Nawaz:

But it's difficult now for longtime residents to stay put on the island, let alone for visitors to arrive. Many homeowners have reported being targeted with offers to buy their real estate, not uncommon after a disaster lowers land value.

Gov. Josh Green:

We want to keep this land in the hands of local people, and we want to give them at least a chance to decide whether they'd like to build back.

Amna Nawaz:

Deborah Loeffler lost her five-generation family home in the fire.

Deborah Loeffler, Lahaina Resident:

This is home. We're too old to start anywhere. And, like I said, this is home. I have got family roots here. We are not leaving. If I have to go pitch a tent on the ashes, that's what I'm going to have to do.

Amna Nawaz:

One of the thousands of residents picking up the pieces of what they have lost is former "Top Chef" contestant Lee Anne Wong. Her restaurant, Papa'aina, in Lahaina's historic 122-year-old Pioneer Inn, burned in the early days of the fire.

Wong sprung into action, joining up with local chefs and volunteers to feed up to 10,000 Maui residents every day. She joins us now to tell us about where things stand for her and her community.

Lee Anne Wong, welcome to the "NewsHour," and thank you for joining us.

Lee Anne Wong, Chef:

Hi. Aloha, Amna.

Amna Nawaz:

Let's just start with, one month on, how you are doing. What has the last month been like for you?

Lee Anne Wong:

It has been a whirlwind, for sure. There were a lot of moving pieces.

And it was amazing to see how the community came together to rally and make sure that the residents who had been affected by the fire, first responders, basically, everybody had the support and hot meals and food and water and generators and clothing, you name it.

And it was a lot. I mean, it's — I learned a lot in four weeks. So, but it's — we're entering the next phase of our recovery and it's going to be a very long road.

Amna Nawaz:

What about your team and your staff? They were all impacted, I understand. How are they doing today?

Lee Anne Wong:

They're good. I have been in touch with some of them.

I'm actually trying to figure out my Go — the GoFundMe that I started for the crew now and figuring out how to distribute that to everybody and tax liability and all that stuff, all that good stuff. So that's my next trip today, is to the bank to figure out how I can start distributing funds to my staff.

Amna Nawaz:

I know you're focused on recovery. I want to ask you about that.

But I need to ask about the moment that you knew that your restaurant, which was in this historic part of Maui, in this historic building, when you knew it was gone, what was that like?

Lee Anne Wong:

I was actually on Oahu at the time, and I had been up all night just playing phone tag with some of my crew.

It was like maybe 3:00 in the morning when one of my cooks sent me a video of somebody from the water who seemingly was in the water. And they were just looking towards the shore. And we could see the lighthouse standing, but there was no building behind it. If you were in the water looking at the lighthouse, normally, the Pioneer Inn would have been there.

Amna Nawaz:

You have described some of those early days after as crisis mode, right?

You joined with University of Hawaii and World Central Kitchen to feed thousands of people. It seems the focus is now to recovery. So what does that mean to you? What are the most pressing needs right now?

Lee Anne Wong:

Right now, you still have a lot of nonprofits on the ground working with the community to make sure that food and water and hot meals are being distributed to those who need it most.

But World Central Kitchen is leaving on the 15th. So, any disaster that we see in modern day, the nonprofit only sticks around for so long. And so now the community is left to figure out what's next.

And so I am currently working with county and state and several nonprofits on the ground. I put together like a 30-question survey last night to send out to restaurants and small businesses about how the Maui fires impacted them. No one is collecting all of this data, which actually is important and critical and needs to be shared with both the state and the county in order for us to get federal funding.

Because, right now, all of Maui County is pretty much on the edge of the cliff, when we're talking about an economic crash, because of the drop in tourism.

Amna Nawaz:

What does that mean to be on the edge of the cliff?

Lee Anne Wong:

There are businesses that are closing temporarily. Some have let go of employees.

Unfortunately, in an economy that is 70 percent dependent on tourism, it's really, really hard. We were having a housing crisis and a labor crisis before the fires as a result of three shutdowns during COVID and businesses were having a hard time recovering. So now Maui residents are dealing with another, essentially, state-mandated shutdown, except the federal government hasn't declared all of Maui County a disaster area, only the affected areas.

And so all the small businesses in Maui who dedicated their resources, their time, their energy, their money towards the relief effort are now kind of twisting in the wind right now. And they don't have many, if any, financial options for aid, which would — should come in the form of, like, a disaster loan or grant.

It's kind of crazy, because it's like, again, this is by no fault of these business, and they have to bear the brunt of the economic fallout. But they say Maui's open. It's like, by the time people come back, we can't say what condition the economy will be here.

Amna Nawaz:

Can I ask you, there have been other extreme weather events since the wildfires, right? And there will be more ahead. Are you worried, the further away we get from the fires, that people will forget about what happened in Maui?

Lee Anne Wong:

No, I don't think so, because climate change is real.

I mean, we are already three weeks ago, last week's news cycle. So it's, again, a long road to recovery. There's a community here that we are so integral to — Maui is thought of as paradise and a place where people can enjoy their — come enjoy a beautiful vacation.

And that's all true. But the people that make that happen live here and they're part of our community, and they're suffering right now. And so you might still have your home and your job, but now you're not — you're worried if you still have your job, because there's no business, and you might be let go.

So that's — there's just multiple layers of things that are happening here. And Maui is going to need the public's help for a long time to come. And I think that can happen through positive messaging and, again, just the spirit of aloha.

Amna Nawaz:

We have seen that aloha spirit in action. We are all thinking of you and everyone in Maui.

Lee Anne Wong, thank you so much for joining us.

Lee Anne Wong:

Thank you so much, Amna. Aloha.