A sign in Olowalu photographed Friday afternoon thanks Maui firefighters and first responders for their efforts in Maui’s time of need. — The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Jay Fujita and his crew tried to take shelter in Engine 1 on Pauoa Street in Lahaina as the fire raged outside.
There was no way out with the roads blocked as others tried to flee. The crew tried to fend off the fire, but it was so hot the hose burned.
“I have never had to do anything like this before in my career, you shelter in place in the truck to protect ourselves, so it’s a pretty dire situation,” said Fujita, who has been a firefighter for 24 years.
But even inside the truck wasn’t a safe place. It became like an oven, and “it was getting too hot in the cab.”
“That’s when I was noticing the windshield starting to fail, and that’s when I called or texted my wife, Patricia, that I love her and tell my family that we might not make it out and that I love them,” he said. “But it was too hot already, my phone was shutting off. It wasn’t working. The message actually didn’t get through.”
Jay Fujita, a 24-year firefighting veteran, said he “never had to do anything like this before in my career,” after sheltering in his engine during the Lahaina fire. — Photo courtesy Jay Fujita
The crew from the Wailuku station left the truck to venture outside and took shelter behind one of the sides of the truck. The Engine 6 crew from Kihei was also there with their injured captain, who was so disoriented and fatigued that he knelt on the asphalt and suffered burns, Fujita said.
Within about 10 to 15 minutes, a police vehicle commandeered by a firefighter from Engine 6 showed up. The eight firefighters from the two companies scrambled, carrying the unconscious captain into the vehicle and taking off their gear in order to stuff themselves into the vehicle, with some even having to sit on each other’s laps.
Fujita said they were relieved when they saw the vehicle, though they wondered if they could actually get out of the area.
Fortunately, they did. Unsure what routes they were taking, Fujita said they headed south and eventually ended up at the Lahaina Aquatic Center where some police officers were.
The firefighting veteran is among the many first responders still processing the aftermath of the harrowing fires, which left some with injuries and destroyed others’ homes.
“Our firefighters, each and every one of them were tasked with … I use the analogy, to slay Goliath,” said Edward Kelly, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, who visited Maui earlier this month. “They put their lives on the line.”
“Lots of residents on Maui were saved by the Maui firefighters that day and of course any one of them would have died to save any one of the people that were lost. They would trade spots with them,” he added.
In the weeks after the fire, the IAFF brought in peer support teams to help Maui firefighters, as it has in other critical incidents, such as significant fires and the partial collapse of the 12-story beachfront condominium in Surfside, Fla. The teams “come in and meet with our firefighters and help them cope with the trauma that they’ve experienced,” Kelly said.
In the first round of support teams to arrive on Maui, firefighters came from as far away as New York, Rhode Island and Los Angeles.
The IAFF union represents paid full-time firefighters and emergency medical services personnel in the U.S. and Canada. Kelly said the union provides some monetary support for firefighters who lost their homes.
IAFF affiliates and locals have also been raising money to help Maui’s firefighters. The Orange County, CA Local 3631 raised $50,000 through its nonprofit Fallen Firefighters Relief Fund and delivered the check in person to the Lahaina Fire Station last month, according to IAFF.
Despite losing some of their homes, the firefighters have been more focused on others, Kelly said.
“What I’ve heard from the Maui firefighters is that they want to make sure that the people of Maui that lost their homes are being taken care of,” he said. “They want the generosity of people to go to the people of Maui, not necessarily the firefighters.”
In addition to losing homes, others suffered physical injuries.
“Some firefighters were burned and are still recovering from their burns and still have medical care that they need to undergo,” Kelly said.
When asked if there was enough personnel on Maui to battle the fires, Kelly said that over the years the island’s population has grown, along with calls for assistance.
“We haven’t seen the needs reflection in additional fire department personnel to meet the growing demands on the island,” Kelly said. “And hopefully the reviews of the fires on Aug. 8 will be a good road map on how to better protect the island.”
He said the firefighters are also grieving with everyone else.
“I think they feel this loss particularly because they care so much about the people of the island. They dedicated their life to protect the people of that island,” Kelly said.
Maui County Fire Chief Bradford Ventura said the fire hit home for everyone.
“Every member of our department has been affected by this disaster in varying degrees,” he said in an email this week. “We all hurt with those who have lost so deeply because the communities we serve are our ohana. We will continue to stand strong to serve and protect you all.”
Ventura said the department has offered a variety of resources to its firefighters, including peer support, critical incident stress management, one-on-one sessions with professional mental health providers and the county Employee Assistance Program.
To protect the privacy of its firefighters Ventura said he was not able to provide information regarding the number of personnel injured and the types of injuries suffered in the fire.
However, he said 15 firefighters lost 14 homes and four Ocean Safety Officers also lost their homes.
Ventura said the department has assisted displaced staff by providing coordination for temporary and long-term housing.
“We have department members who have stood up crowd funding sites to provide financial assistance to firefighters and ocean safety officers,” he said.
Other firefighters had their homes impacted by the fire but not destroyed, Ventura added.
In the fire, the department lost Engine 1, whose replacement will cost around $1.3 million for the apparatus and $300,000 for the equipment. Apparatus such as Engine 1 take about 900 days (roughly two and a half years) to deliver once a contract is signed by the contractor and the county, Ventura said. The bid to replace Engine 1 will be out shortly, he added. In the meantime, the Wailuku station is using a spare truck.
The Wildland 3 unit from Lahaina was also lost in the fire and will cost approximately $355,000 for the apparatus to be replaced along with $60,000 for equipment. The bid has gone out to replace Wildland 3, which is a smaller fire engine with enhanced off-road capabilities.
“We will continue to pursue additional fire stations and apparatus for Maui County,” Ventura said.
He said there is a need for more resources, training, fire stations and community risk reduction efforts.
When asked what he wanted the community to take away from his accounts of the fire, Fujita, who is also an executive board member for the Hawaii Fire Firefighters Association Maui Division, said: “That everybody in the department, we gave it our all, we tried everything that we could to save whatever we could, save whomever we could to the point where even we’d be putting our lives on the line.”
On the day of the fire, Fujita said, after escaping Engine 1 and placing the injured Engine 6 captain in the care of paramedics, they jumped back into their Mini 1 truck and “went back to work.”
“We know people are not making it out of this fire, homes are being burned and this is like the biggest fire we have in our histories,” he said. “We went straight back to work.”
* Staff Writer Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.