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Associated Press
a day ago
- Business
- Associated Press
An infusion of fire aid is changing how the Maui Food Bank does business
Nearly two years after the devastating Maui wildfires, the county's only food bank is better equipped to feed people at risk of hunger on the Valley Isle, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi even as the need expands from fire survivors to include a growing number of middle-income families. That's thanks to an outpouring of disaster relief that boosted the Maui Food Bank's revenues to $77.6 million in fiscal year 2024, an eightfold increase from the year before the Aug. 8, 2023, fires that killed 102 people and left more than 12,000 homeless and struggling to obtain basic necessities. Roughly $65 million of that revenue is donations for wildfire recovery. The nonprofit has so far spent roughly $15 million to hire more staff, buy more food from local farmers, award grants to the soup kitchens and senior living facilities helping it distribute food and maintain a Lahaina distribution warehouse with an attached grocery store-style experience focused on feeding wildfire survivors with dignity in West Maui. The agency knows the windfall is likely temporary; it expects to retain only about 10% of the new donors that have poured money into its coffers from around the world. Anticipating this funding cliff, the nonprofit is holding onto a large chunk of funds as it makes plans to build a 35,000-square-foot home base more than twice the combined size of the three warehouses it currently operates in Kahului, Wailuku and Lahaina. 'A new facility is paramount to serving the community in the best way possible,' Maui Food Bank CEO Lisa Paulson said. 'For one thing, the facility will have loading docks. Currently we don't have any loading docks.' Maui Food Bank's revenues sprung from about $9.5 million in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2023, to $77.6 million in fiscal year 2024, according to its most recent IRS Form 990s. That's more than the combined revenues for the Hawaiʻi Food Bank — which operates on Oʻahu and Kauaʻi — and The Food Basket on the Big Island, which took in $47.4 million and $15 million, respectively. Paulson, who assumed her role a day after the first anniversary of the fires, said the nonprofit is in talks with two landowners as it narrows the search for a parcel to build its new headquarters and distribution center. She declined to estimate how much the new facility might cost, but said the goal is to strengthen the ability of Maui County's primary safety net for hunger relief to feed residents for years to come. Improving Disaster Readiness A new facility has long been on the nonprofit's wishlist. The 2023 wildfires made it apparent that the organization's current setup — three warehouses without loading docks separated by miles — isn't conducive to efficiently serve growing hunger needs or withstand the next disaster, Paulson said. Food banks have increasingly become key stakeholders in statewide disaster response planning, said Albie Miles, assistant professor of sustainable community food systems at the University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu. It took many federal and state disaster relief agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, five days to turn up after the fires, Miles said. Meanwhile, the Maui community, including the food bank, had to step in to fill the vacuum, according to a report by the Maui Emergency Feeding Task Force that was established to address gaping holes in disaster food distribution relief efforts. 'There's not a well coordinated statewide emergency feeding plan so the counties are still really critical in disaster response and food banks need their partners who have the relationships in the communities to really be the ones to get the food to residents who need it,' state food system planner Amanda Shaw said. 'We couldn't feed anybody in any of these disasters without those relationships.' To that end, Maui Food Bank injected a substantial share of its disaster relief donations into grants to improve the capacity of 170 distribution partners and programs that deliver food from its warehouses in Kahului and Wailuku to people in need. These organizations, including soup kitchens and senior living facilities, play a leading role in developing crucial community relationships and getting food in the hands of people who need it. Another chunk of the $15 million in disaster funds already spent went directly to 41 local farmers and ranchers who supply the food bank with produce and protein. Mainland imports supply most of the nonprofit's food haul. Before the wildfires, the nonprofit brought in about nine shipping containers of food a year. That shot up to about 65 containers in the year that followed the fires, according to Paulson. Now the food bank is working to strengthen its ability to respond to the next disaster. The nonprofit also faces the unique challenge of delivering food across water to people on the outer islands of Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi, which are in Maui County. Paulson said she hopes to address that vulnerability by building food storage on these outer islands to ensure they have access to supplies in the event of a disaster. Amid Trump Cuts, Food Bank Plots Federal Funding Boost As disaster funding cools, the Maui Food Bank plans to aggressively seek out federal grant money. Historically, the nonprofit has received a single $50,000 federal grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Emergency Food Assistance Program. That dollar amount was expected to rise to roughly $1.2 million this year, but those plans were scuttled after the Trump administration canceled grant money from the program. Maui Food Bank has hired 10 new, full-time employees for a total of 29 — with an average salary of $70,000. New positions funded by disaster relief include a grants manager and a major gifts director. Paulson said she created these key positions to diversify the food bank's revenue sources by aggressively pursuing federal dollars. Federal money accounts for less than 1% of the nonprofit's annual revenues. Its top funding sources are individual contributions and corporate donors, followed by Maui County, which gives $400,000 annually, and state government grants. 'Even with the cuts that are being made, there's still a lot of opportunities to receive federal support and I don't want to miss those opportunities,' Paulson said. The Changing Demographics Of Hunger As wildfire survivors progress in their recovery, the risk of hunger isn't waning but shifting into new demographics. The need for food donations among this group is gently tapering. But it's picking up in a new demographic: working families. 'I think a lot of people have really kind of gone beyond the recovery mode from the fire and they're getting on their feet,' Paulson said. 'What we're seeing is the cost of living being prohibitive to putting fresh, good food on the table for families.' 'We are seeing an uptick in people who are working,' she added. 'And when they get to the end of the month, after paying rent and insurance and schooling and preschool and all of those expenses, we're seeing a new group of people that are really struggling in making really difficult decisions about 'What bill can I pay?' and 'Can we eat tonight?'' Paulson said the food bank has the resources to meet this need. It's considering shifting its hours of operation and distribution points to make it more accessible for these families to get food aid on evenings and weekends. To overcome the stigma of neediness, the nonprofit is considering adopting a food voucher program so that people who may not be comfortable receiving donated food can feel like they're using the vouchers to purchase it. Instead of handing out brown boxes packed with goods, Paulson said the nonprofit is increasingly adopting a farmers market-style food distribution scheme that allows families to visit outdoor pop-up food booths and take what they need. ___ This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
Forbes
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Celebrity Chefs Join Musicians To Speed Up Rebuild In Maui, Hawaii
Mick Fleetwood (center) of Fleetwood Mac talks with actor and cultural advisor Vene Chun at last year's music and food benefit for survivors of 2023 Maui wildfires. J. Anthony Martinez Photography As a restoration group completes a plan to rebuild historic buildings damaged by tragic wildfires two years ago in Maui, world-class chefs and professional musicians have announced benefit concerts in two cities to accelerate rebuilding in Lahaina and provide food for needy residents. The Maui Music + Food Experience kicks off Aug. 15-16 at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa and moves to Chicago Nov. 7. Performers at the Maui resort will include Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Ernie Isley of the Isley Brothers and Bernard Fowler. Six top chefs will cook, including Los Angeles-based Gabrielle Chappel, a winner of Fox's Next Level Chef TV program, and Ryan Von Smith, who finished third at the World Master Chefs Competition in China. Chef and musician Naiwi Teruya peforms in Maui at last year's music and food benefit for survivors of the 2023 Lahaina wildfire. J. Anthony Martinez Photography Last year's Maui Music + Food Experience raised $250,000 for Lahaina survivors. Maui resident Mick Fleetwood, the drummer of Fleetwood Mac, and Billy Cox of the Jimi Hendrix Experience were among the performers. Two of Fleetwood's businesses, a restaurant and a retail store, were destroyed in the wildfires. The music and food benefits this year are expected to attract 1,500 people and aim to raise another $250,000 through ticket sales, auctions and donations at the events. 'Money raised in the Maui Music + Food Experience goes to programs for Maui residents affected by the fires, including a hot meal program, and the new Maui Youth Music Program for young people in the fire-affected areas,' says Gary Grube, the founder of the Hua Momona Foundation in Lahaina. The nonprofit foundation sponsors the music and food events. Grube expects proceeds this year to help provide 10,000 hot meals and ukuleles and instruction to 50 young musicians. The wildfires on Aug. 8, 2023, were caused by high winds and dry weather, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 'These wildfires affected approximately 1,550 parcels, 2,200 structures and were one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires in at least the past 100 years,' the EPA's website says. The Associated Press reported that 102 people were killed. 'The injuries and loss of life from these fires are staggering,' a three-author 2024 study published in the American Journal of Public Health said. 'Early recovery efforts have already unveiled anxiety, depression and survivor's guilt, which, when added to the colonial, historical and intergenerational trauma already present in this community, may result in higher substance misuse and suicidal ideation.' Besides concerns about the physical well-being of survivors and their families, 'there was estimated overall damage of $5.52 billion,' the study said. 'Historic structures such as the Old Lahaina Courthouse and Heritage Museum with its historic artifacts and the Waiola Church as the final resting ground for early royal family members no longer exist. Other landmarks, such as a 150-year-old banyan tree where many generations created memories, are still in danger.' The Lahaina Restoration Foundation, according to the The Maui News, is nearly finished with its master plan for rebuilding the Old Lahaina Courthouse, the Lahaina Prison, the Baldwin Home and the Master's Reading Room, Seamen's Hospital, Plantation House and Hale Aloha. Theo Morrison, the Lahaina Restoration Foundation's executive director, said the exterior of the buildings will look the same as they once were, but the interiors may change. Morrison, according to The Maui News, said she looks forward to the Lahina harbor being accessible to boaters and visitors in the future, because 70% of visitors participate in ocean activities. Pro golfer Collin Morikawa (center) and his wife Kat do volunteer work last year at Hua Momona Farms, which next month presents a music and food festival that aims to help Maui residents affected by 2003 wildfires. (Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images) PGA TOUR
CTV News
12-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Could this Hawaii community be the next Lahaina? Some residents fear a similar wildfire fate
Calvin Endo looks out at private property behind his home where tall grass grows brown during wildfire season on Saturday, July 5, 2025, in Waianae, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Jennifer Sinco Kelleher) WAIANAE, Hawaii — When there's enough rain, the mountain-framed expanse of vacant land behind Calvin Endo's house looks like the lush and verdant landscape that makes tropical Hawaii famous. But in the summer, when the jungle of eyeball-high invasive grasses and spindly tree branches fade to brown, he fears it could become a fiery hellscape. This isn't Maui, where most of Lahaina burned down during a massive wildfire in August 2023. Endo's duplex is in Waianae on the west side of Oahu. But Waianae and Lahaina have a lot in common. They're both situated on parched western island coasts, with road access pinched by topography, and are bastions of Native Hawaiian culture. Both have sections crisscrossed by overhead power lines atop aging wooden poles, like those that fell in high winds and caused the Lahaina fire. There's even a Lahaina Street through the heart of Makaha, Endo's neighborhood along the Waianae coast. 'It can happen to us,' said Endo, who moved to the Makaha Meadows subdivision in 1980, soon after it was built. 'We can have a repeat of Lahaina if somebody doesn't do anything about the brush in the back.' In recent days, two wildfires a few miles away, including a July 6 blaze that left a 94-year-old woman dead, proved his worst fears could become reality. It's been nearly two years since Lahaina provided a worst-case scenario of the destruction from wind-whipped flames fueled by overgrown brush. With 102 deaths, it's the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century. In the months afterward, the number of Hawaii communities participating in the Firewise network, a nationally recognized program that helps communities with resources for safeguarding homes, more than doubled to 35 — but none in western Oahu. Even though Waianae residents have long known about their wildfire risks, only now is one of its neighborhoods close to gaining Firewise status. Communities become Firewise by organizing a committee, creating a hazard assessment, developing an action plan and volunteering hours toward reducing risk, such as removing overgrown brush. Firewise tracks a community's progress, connects residents with experts, and provides ideas and funding for mitigation, workshops and training. Identical risk The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service considers Lahaina and Waianae to be at much higher risk than other U.S. communities for a wildland fire, noted Honolulu Fire Department Battalion Chief Keith Ito. 'The weather, the winds, they're pretty much identical,' he said. 'With all that being said, I think that the high-risk wildfire potential is a state-wide problem, not really specific to Waianae or Lahaina.' Nani Barretto, co-director of the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, struggles to understand why fire-prone communities like Waianae have yet to join the Firewise movement. There are also no Firewise communities on the island of Kauai. 'Just because we are proactive in getting the word out, it doesn't mean the right people are getting the information,' she said. 'For Maui, it took a very devastating event for them to join.' Organizing a community can be challenging because it requires residents to put in time and step up as leaders, she said. Endo, who is a longtime member of the Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board, had never even heard of Firewise until recently. A development called Sea Country, near the neighborhood that was recently ordered to evacuate during a wildfire, is close to becoming the fist Firewise community in Waianae, said Andria Tupola, a resident who also represents the coast on the Honolulu City Council. The process got underway around 2018 but picked up momentum after Lahaina, she said. Sea Country recently completed a hazard assessment and has planned some mitigation events, including a park cleanup in August, said Ashley Bare, the Firewise support specialist for Oahu. Emergency route and hungry sheep Lahaina also provided the spark for opening an emergency access route in Waianae, Tupola said. Farrington Highway, the main artery along the coast, can get clogged with just an accident. Military officials who control a mountain pass above Waianae started talking about letting civilians access the route after Lahaina, she said. During the July 6 fire, state and military officials were ready to open the road as a way out of the coast and into central Oahu, said state Rep. Darius Kila, who represents the area. A Hawaiian homestead community in Waianae's Nanakuli Valley is also trying to achieve Firewise status, said Diamond Badajos, spokesperson for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Home to the largest concentration of Native Hawaiians, Waianae is rich in Hawaiian culture and history. But much of the coast also struggles with poverty and homelessness. Residents have grown accustomed to wildfires in the dry summer months, said Republican state Rep. Chris Muraoka: 'It's almost like if it doesn't burn, something's not right.' However, Muraoka said he thinks communities along the coast would benefit more from fire-prevention and safety education in schools rather than organizing to be Firewise. Muraoka, who lives in Makaha, said communities in Waianae have unique needs that being Firewise might not address, including sections with neighborhoods that are more spread out than in Lahaina and blazes that are often started by arsonists or kids playing with fire. Some residents already do what they can, especially with the dry season underway. Endo often tries to clear brush on private property behind his home himself, to create a firebreak. Some properties in Waianae Valley use sheep to eat the overgrown vegetation. Retired firefighter Shermaih 'Bulla' Iaea recalls fighting blazes in the brush near Endo's home and Makaha Elementary School. In 2018, his farm burned down during high winds from a passing hurricane. He was using a herd of sheep on his property until wild dogs killed them in April. Neighborhoods banding together to become Firewise is another tool that will help, he said. 'There's a 100 percent chance that will happen here,' he said. 'I thought it would never happen to me. Now I'm trying to ring the bells. I'm trying to sound the alarm.' 'Relentless sun' Being one of the poorest communities in the state is a major factor preventing Waianae from becoming Firewise, said Kila, who lives near where the July 6 fire happened. Before the summer, the Democratic lawmaker sent a letter to Hawaiian Electric and telecom companies urging 'immediate and coordinated action' to address dangerous, sagging utility lines on aging wooden poles along the coast. It's not clear why Makaha ended up with a long street named Lahaina, which can mean 'relentless sun' in Hawaiian. But like the west Maui town, it fits the sunny west Oahu neighborhood, which is home to the world-famous Makaha surfing beach. Some neighborhoods above Lahaina Street are newer and have underground utilities, like Endo's. But toward the ocean, older neighborhoods are laced by overhead power lines. That worries Glen Kila, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner in Waianae, who is not related to Darius Kila. Power lines are blamed for sparking the Lahaina blaze. 'If that happens to Waianae,' he said, 'we're done.' Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, The Associated Press
Al Arabiya
12-07-2025
- Climate
- Al Arabiya
Could this hawaii community be the next lahaina? Some residents fear a similar wildfire fate
WAIANAE, Hawaii (AP) – When there's enough rain, the mountain-framed expanse of vacant land behind Calvin Endo's house looks like the lush and verdant landscape that makes tropical Hawaii famous. But in the summer, when the jungle of eyeball-high invasive grasses and spindly tree branches fade to brown, he fears it could become a fiery hellscape. This isn't Maui, where most of Lahaina burned down during a massive wildfire in August 2023. Endo's duplex is in Waianae, on the west side of Oahu. But Waianae and Lahaina have a lot in common. They're both situated on parched western island coasts with road access pinched by topography and are bastions of Native Hawaiian culture. Both have sections crisscrossed by overhead power lines atop aging wooden poles like those that fell in high winds and caused the Lahaina fire. There's even a Lahaina Street through the heart of Makaha, Endo's neighborhood along the Waianae coast. 'It can happen to us,' said Endo, who moved to the Makaha Meadows subdivision in 1980 soon after it was built. 'We can have a repeat of Lahaina if somebody doesn't do anything about the brush in the back.' In recent days, two wildfires a few miles away–including a July 6 blaze that left a 94-year-old woman dead–proved his worst fears could become reality. It's been nearly two years since Lahaina provided a worst-case scenario of the destruction from wind-whipped flames fueled by overgrown brush. With 102 deaths, it's the deadliest US wildfire in a century. In the months afterward, the number of Hawaii communities participating in the Firewise network–a nationally recognized program that helps communities with resources for safeguarding homes–more than doubled to 35–but none in western Oahu. Even though Waianae residents have long known about their wildfire risks, only now is one of its neighborhoods close to gaining Firewise status. Communities become Firewise by organizing a committee, creating a hazard assessment, developing an action plan, and volunteering hours toward reducing risk, such as removing overgrown brush. Firewise tracks a community's progress, connects residents with experts, and provides ideas and funding for mitigation workshops and training. The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service considers Lahaina and Waianae to be at much higher risk than other US communities for a wildland fire, noted Honolulu Fire Department Battalion Chief Keith Ito. 'The weather, the winds–they're pretty much identical,' he said. 'With all that being said, I think that the high-risk wildfire potential is a state-wide problem, not really specific to Waianae or Lahaina.' Nani Barretto, co-director of the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, struggles to understand why fire-prone communities like Waianae have yet to join the Firewise movement. There are also no Firewise communities on the island of Kauai. 'Just because we are proactive in getting the word out, it doesn't mean the right people are getting the information,' she said. 'For Maui, it took a very devastating event for them to join.' Organizing a community can be challenging because it requires residents to put in time and step up as leaders, she said. Endo, who is a longtime member of the Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board, had never even heard of Firewise until recently. A development called Sea Country near the neighborhood that was recently ordered to evacuate during a wildfire is close to becoming the fist Firewise community in Waianae, said Andria Tupola, a resident who also represents the coast on the Honolulu City Council. The process got underway around 2018 but picked up momentum after Lahaina, she said. Sea Country recently completed a hazard assessment and has planned some mitigation events including a park cleanup in August, said Ashley Bare, the Firewise support specialist for Oahu. Lahaina also provided the spark for opening an emergency access route in Waianae, Tupola said. Farrington Highway, the main artery along the coast, can get clogged with just an accident. Military officials who control a mountain pass above Waianae started talking about letting civilians access the route after Lahaina, she said. During the July 6 fire, state and military officials were ready to open the road as a way out of the coast and into central Oahu, said state Rep. Darius Kila, who represents the area. A Hawaiian homestead community in Waianae's Nanakuli Valley is also trying to achieve Firewise status, said Diamond Badajos, spokesperson for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Home to the largest concentration of Native Hawaiians, Waianae is rich in Hawaiian culture and history. But much of the coast also struggles with poverty and homelessness. Residents have grown accustomed to wildfires in the dry summer months, said Republican state Rep. Chris Muraoka: 'It's almost like if it doesn't burn, something's not right.' However, Muraoka said he thinks communities along the coast would benefit more from fire-prevention and safety education in schools rather than organizing to be Firewise. Muraoka, who lives in Makaha, said communities in Waianae have unique needs that being Firewise might not address, including sections with neighborhoods that are more spread out than in Lahaina and blazes that are often started by arsonists or kids playing with fire. Some residents already do what they can, especially with the dry season underway. Endo often tries to clear brush on private property behind his home himself to create a firebreak. Some properties in Waianae Valley use sheep to eat the overgrown vegetation. Retired firefighter Shermaih Bulla Iaea recalls fighting blazes in the brush near Endo's home and Makaha Elementary School. In 2018, his farm burned down during high winds from a passing hurricane. He was using a herd of sheep on his property until wild dogs killed them in April. Neighborhoods banding together to become Firewise is another tool that will help, he said. 'There's a 100 percent chance that will happen here,' he said. 'I thought it would never happen to me. Now I'm trying to ring the bells. I'm trying to sound the alarm.' Being one of the poorest communities in the state is a major factor preventing Waianae from becoming Firewise, said Kila, who lives near where the July 6 fire happened. Before the summer, the Democratic lawmaker sent a letter to Hawaiian Electric and telecom companies urging immediate and coordinated action to address dangerous sagging utility lines on aging wooden poles along the coast. It's not clear why Makaha ended up with a long street named Lahaina, which can mean 'relentless sun' in Hawaiian. But like the west Maui town, it fits the sunny west Oahu neighborhood, which is home to the world-famous Makaha surfing beach. Some neighborhoods above Lahaina Street are newer and have underground utilities like Endo's. But toward the ocean, older neighborhoods are laced by overhead power lines. That worries Glen Kila, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner in Waianae who is not related to Darius Kila. Power lines are blamed for sparking the Lahaina blaze. 'If that happens to Waianae,' he said, 'we're done.'
Associated Press
12-07-2025
- Climate
- Associated Press
Could this Hawaii community be the next Lahaina? Some residents fear a similar wildfire fate
WAIANAE, Hawaii (AP) — When there's enough rain, the mountain-framed expanse of vacant land behind Calvin Endo's house looks like the lush and verdant landscape that makes tropical Hawaii famous. But in the summer, when the jungle of eyeball-high invasive grasses and spindly tree branches fade to brown, he fears it could become a fiery hellscape. This isn't Maui, where most of Lahaina burned down during a massive wildfire in August 2023. Endo's duplex is in Waianae on the west side of Oahu. But Waianae and Lahaina have a lot in common. They're both situated on parched western island coasts, with road access pinched by topography, and are bastions of Native Hawaiian culture. Both have sections crisscrossed by overhead power lines atop aging wooden poles, like those that fell in high winds and caused the Lahaina fire. There's even a Lahaina Street through the heart of Makaha, Endo's neighborhood along the Waianae coast. 'It can happen to us,' said Endo, who moved to the Makaha Meadows subdivision in 1980, soon after it was built. 'We can have a repeat of Lahaina if somebody doesn't do anything about the brush in the back.' In recent days, two wildfires a few miles away, including a July 6 blaze that left a 94-year-old woman dead, proved his worst fears could become reality. It's been nearly two years since Lahaina provided a worst-case scenario of the destruction from wind-whipped flames fueled by overgrown brush. With 102 deaths, it's the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century. In the months afterward, the number of Hawaii communities participating in the Firewise network, a nationally recognized program that helps communities with resources for safeguarding homes, more than doubled to 35 — but none in western Oahu. Even though Waianae residents have long known about their wildfire risks, only now is one of its neighborhoods close to gaining Firewise status. Communities become Firewise by organizing a committee, creating a hazard assessment, developing an action plan and volunteering hours toward reducing risk, such as removing overgrown brush. Firewise tracks a community's progress, connects residents with experts, and provides ideas and funding for mitigation, workshops and training. Identical risk The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service considers Lahaina and Waianae to be at much higher risk than other U.S. communities for a wildland fire, noted Honolulu Fire Department Battalion Chief Keith Ito. 'The weather, the winds, they're pretty much identical,' he said. 'With all that being said, I think that the high-risk wildfire potential is a state-wide problem, not really specific to Waianae or Lahaina.' Nani Barretto, co-director of the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, struggles to understand why fire-prone communities like Waianae have yet to join the Firewise movement. There are also no Firewise communities on the island of Kauai. 'Just because we are proactive in getting the word out, it doesn't mean the right people are getting the information,' she said. 'For Maui, it took a very devastating event for them to join.' Organizing a community can be challenging because it requires residents to put in time and step up as leaders, she said. Endo, who is a longtime member of the Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board, had never even heard of Firewise until recently. A development called Sea Country, near the neighborhood that was recently ordered to evacuate during a wildfire, is close to becoming the fist Firewise community in Waianae, said Andria Tupola, a resident who also represents the coast on the Honolulu City Council. The process got underway around 2018 but picked up momentum after Lahaina, she said. Sea Country recently completed a hazard assessment and has planned some mitigation events, including a park cleanup in August, said Ashley Bare, the Firewise support specialist for Oahu. Emergency route and hungry sheep Lahaina also provided the spark for opening an emergency access route in Waianae, Tupola said. Farrington Highway, the main artery along the coast, can get clogged with just an accident. Military officials who control a mountain pass above Waianae started talking about letting civilians access the route after Lahaina, she said. During the July 6 fire, state and military officials were ready to open the road as a way out of the coast and into central Oahu, said state Rep. Darius Kila, who represents the area. A Hawaiian homestead community in Waianae's Nanakuli Valley is also trying to achieve Firewise status, said Diamond Badajos, spokesperson for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Home to the largest concentration of Native Hawaiians, Waianae is rich in Hawaiian culture and history. But much of the coast also struggles with poverty and homelessness. Residents have grown accustomed to wildfires in the dry summer months, said Republican state Rep. Chris Muraoka: 'It's almost like if it doesn't burn, something's not right.' However, Muraoka said he thinks communities along the coast would benefit more from fire-prevention and safety education in schools rather than organizing to be Firewise. Muraoka, who lives in Makaha, said communities in Waianae have unique needs that being Firewise might not address, including sections with neighborhoods that are more spread out than in Lahaina and blazes that are often started by arsonists or kids playing with fire. Some residents already do what they can, especially with the dry season underway. Endo often tries to clear brush on private property behind his home himself, to create a firebreak. Some properties in Waianae Valley use sheep to eat the overgrown vegetation. Retired firefighter Shermaih 'Bulla' Iaea recalls fighting blazes in the brush near Endo's home and Makaha Elementary School. In 2018, his farm burned down during high winds from a passing hurricane. He was using a herd of sheep on his property until wild dogs killed them in April. Neighborhoods banding together to become Firewise is another tool that will help, he said. 'There's a 100 percent chance that will happen here,' he said. 'I thought it would never happen to me. Now I'm trying to ring the bells. I'm trying to sound the alarm.' 'Relentless sun' Being one of the poorest communities in the state is a major factor preventing Waianae from becoming Firewise, said Kila, who lives near where the July 6 fire happened. Before the summer, the Democratic lawmaker sent a letter to Hawaiian Electric and telecom companies urging 'immediate and coordinated action' to address dangerous, sagging utility lines on aging wooden poles along the coast. It's not clear why Makaha ended up with a long street named Lahaina, which can mean 'relentless sun' in Hawaiian. But like the west Maui town, it fits the sunny west Oahu neighborhood, which is home to the world-famous Makaha surfing beach. Some neighborhoods above Lahaina Street are newer and have underground utilities, like Endo's. But toward the ocean, older neighborhoods are laced by overhead power lines. That worries Glen Kila, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner in Waianae, who is not related to Darius Kila. Power lines are blamed for sparking the Lahaina blaze. 'If that happens to Waianae,' he said, 'we're done.'
