Hundreds of families like the Cascos are displaced and trying to chart a new trajectory for their lives following the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history.
told that her temporary housing at a local hotel would run out in about two weeks. For what felt like the umpteenth time since the fire, she and her family
“I’ve been waiting in so many lines,” Val said, back at the hotel room they would soon have to vacate. “That’s life now, waiting in lines. You have to be patient, I know, but I’m so tired of being patient.”Their eldest son, Ryan,a rental for his parents. The Red Cross would provide just another temporary option; he insisted that they needed something more permanent, Val said. She agreed. “When you have to move from one place to another place … I feel like I’ve been displaced again.
“There’s another I tried in Kihei as well. Guess how much they’re going to charge though? $6,000!” Ryan said.It was the wind that warned Val something was wrong on Aug. 8. The power had been out all day, and the wind howled in a way she had never heard, she said. She, Kali and Casey stayed hunkered down in their home, thinking the storm would pass.
Eric and Lei’s apartment was reduced to rubble; the elementary school that their children were supposed to attend was leveled. So was Val’s cousin’s home, which neighbored hers on Malo Street; another cousin’s home, just behind them on the same plot of land, was gone, too. And so was Val and Kali’s.The days following the disaster were a blur, Val said.
It could not mask the horror. As ribs sizzled on the grill, Eric, 42, recounted what he saw after sneaking back into town a day after the fire — a family burned and petrified in place, kneeling and praying. “The smell, like flesh,” he said, shaking his head. As night set in, the family mapped the days ahead. Eric, Lei and their three children were set to move that weekend into a Napili apartment, which was offered to them by an off-island relative. Val, Kali and Casey planned to move into the hotel, coordinated through their connections with the hotel management; Val and Kali run a landscaping business that provides services there.Val grew up in the Malo Street home.
before it would cease service to her address, she said. “My body just started getting hot. My house burned down. I don’t even have any paper. How am I supposed to send a letter?”
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