Propane tanks from a catering van exploded. The black smoke was so thick they could see only the white dogs, not the three dark ones, and they lost them. He called his mother, his brother, his daughter to tell them he loved them. It had been less than 15 minutes since he left his house, and he thought it was the end. "Behind us, straight ahead, beside us, everywhere was on fire," Cicchino said. But it was impossible to know which way to run. He told his wife: "We need to jump out of this car, abandon the car, and we need to run for our lives." "We're all driving into a death trap," Mike Cicchino thought. The people sitting in their cars saw black smoke ahead. The street was so jammed, he thinks if he'd taken his car instead, he would have died or been forced into the ocean. "It's something you'd seen a in a 'Twilight Zone' horror movie or something," Wyland said. The smoke was so thick, so toxic, some said they vomited. Some were abandoning cars and fleeing on foot. I could pretty much feel the hair is burning off the back of my neck," said Wyland, who owns an art gallery on the street.Īt one point, he passed a man on a bicycle madly pedaling for his life. "I could feel the heat burning in my back. He got on his Harley Davidson and drove on the sidewalk. On gridlocked Front Street, people were panicking, crying, screaming, honking.īill Wyland grabbed his computer, passport and Social Security card and stuffed them into a backpack. She wishes now she could thank him, because he might have saved her life. ![]() Kaauwai would have driven to Front Street, but a stranger walking by told her to go the other way. Danger seemed to come from every direction. Debris whipped in the wind and banged on the car. Traffic crawled, people were dragging uprooted trees out of the road with their bare hands. She couldn't think - she just grabbed her dog and some clothes, never imagining she would not see her house or anything in it ever again.Īround 4 p.m., she got into her car. Something was exploding it sounded like fireworks. Kaauwai couldn't even see buildings anymore. It darkened from gray to black, day seemed to turn to night. Within moments, she said, the smoke that had been blocks away suddenly engulfed them. "It sounded like an airplane landing on our street." It felt like tornado after tornado was slicing down her street. The roadblocks forced Cicchino and the line of cars onto Front Street.Ī few blocks away, Kehau Kaauwai said the wind was so intense it tore the roof from her neighbour's home. Access to the main highway - the only road leading in and out of Lahaina - was cut off by barricades set up by authorities. They ran to the car with five dogs and called police, and a dispatcher said to follow the traffic. It could be a mile away, Fire Assistant Chief Jeff Giesea said, "but in a minute or two, it can be at your house."Ĭicchino did a U-turn, ran into his house and told his wife they needed to leave: "We need to go! We need to get out of here now!" Now, officials said, erratic wind, challenging terrain and flying embers made it hard to predict the fire's path and speed. The Lahaina brush fire had sparked that morning, but authorities reported it was contained. Just 10 minutes before Cicchino made that turn away from his street, Maui fire officials had issued an ominous warning. wildfire in more than 100 years - and they expect that number to rise. There were no sirens, no one with bullhorns, no one to tell anyone what to do: They were on their own, with their families and neighbours, to choose whether to stay or to run, and where to run to - through smoke so thick it blinded them, flames closing in from every direction, cars exploding, toppled power lines and uprooted trees, fire whipping through the wind and raining down.Īuthorities confirmed that at least 96 people died - already the deadliest U.S. The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App.Top climate and environment headlines, all in one place.Climate Barometer newsletter: Sign up for more on how a warming planet impacts you.They had just moments to make decisions that would determine whether they lived or died in a race against the flames - a harrowing, narrow window of time in one of the most horrifying and lethal natural disasters the country has seen in years. Tuesday when Cicchino and his neighbours began a desperate fight for their lives. ![]() ![]() "I see people running and grabbing their babies and screaming and jumping in their cars." "When I turned that corner, I see pandemonium," he said. He turned off his street, and in an instant, his Lahaina neighbourhood seemed to spiral into a war zone. The power had been out all day, so Mike Cicchino thought he'd drive to the hardware store for a generator. Winds were howling, and heat bore down as flames licked the trees on the horizon. The smoke was starting to blot out the sun.
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