KULA, Hawaii (KHON2) — This latest fire is bringing back troubling memories for some in Kula, a neighborhood where houses were also burnt to the ground on Aug. 8, 2023.
Some visitors were also trapped on Haleakala until early Thursday.
Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said about 200 cars were blocked in for up to eight hours on the slopes of Haleakala on the night of Wednesday. One Kansas family made it to the summit just before the road was closed to take sunset photos around 6:45 p.m.
“I think we were maybe out of our car five, 10 minutes at the most, maybe not even that long. Got back in and head back down and then ran into the log jam,” Wichita resident Paul Cheatum said.
That logjam was from police turning drivers around to wait near the Haleakala Visitors Center until around 1:30 a.m. when National Park Service rangers escorted down vehicles in groups of 10.
A Kula resident whose main house burned down in the 2023 fires sent in photos from her Ohana Unit that miraculously survived. The current crater fire is about 20 miles from her but she is still hoping for better communication from the County.
“If they could just send out text messages, you know, if MEMA could just like let us know exactly where it is, maybe how what the wind strength is like, which direction it’s going,” the Kula resident said. “It’s mostly just like last time, like civilians keeping each other, you know, in the know.”
The resident also said that the response from Maui Fire Department officials is stronger than what she saw in 2023.
“There are so many resources up there that there weren’t last time,” she said, “I follow them on Facebook and Instagram and they’ve probably made the most posts of just kind of keeping people calm or saying where it is.”