Survival Stories Arise from Devastating Hawaii Wildfires, Considered the Worst Blaze in the US in Years | US News

At Maui High School, class is out and the hallways are instead thronging with people who have evacuated, escaping the worst wildfire to hit the US for years. 

The gymnasium has become a shelter, with families huddled in corners under duvets, and camp beds set up where the sports court would usually be.

Behind the building, volunteers serve Hawaiian stew and rice from huge silver trays. Benches are arranged around a big screen showing rolling local news, documenting the rising number of fatalities.

Most of the people here are either tourists or locals from the town of Laihana, which was obliterated when wildfire ripped through Maui on Tuesday.

Here, trauma interacts with remarkable tales of survival.

Ydriss Nouara and his neighbour Damon McDonough jumped into the ocean to escape the flames which engulfed Laihana. They spent three hours clinging to a jetty before they were rescued by a coastguard boat.

“It was hell,” says Ydriss. “Hell on earth, truly.”

The pair had both left their homes in the centre of Laihana when the wildfires which had been visible on the crest of the hill quickly started moving their way, accelerated by the winds from a hurricane 800 miles off the coast.

“It was the afternoon but the skies were black from the smoke,” says Damon. They both headed down to the harbour area of town believing they would be safe there. But soon they were burning hot.

“We kept hearing explosions and screams like we were in a horror movie,” says Ydriss, “We heard people throwing up, we didn’t know where they were. I called the police and they said that they couldn’t get to us.

“The smoke was all black and we called the cops again and they said they couldn’t come and the third time they said you gotta go in the water. And I said ‘you want us to jump in the water in a hurricane? It’s black you know.’

“But we didn’t have a choice,” he adds, “it was either that or burn.”

Source link