A visitor walks by photos of victims of the August 2023 wildfire at a memorial near the Lahaina Bypass highway on Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The parties in lawsuits seeking damages for last year’s Maui wildfires have reached a $4 billion global settlement, a court filing said Friday, Aug. 2. The agreement comes nearly one year after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed 102 people and destroyed the historic downtown area of Lahaina on Maui. The Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire burned thousands of homes and displaced 12,000 people. Lindsey Wasson, Associated Press
This week marks one year since devastating wildfires disrupted life in Lahaina, Hawaii, and killed more than 100 people.
The community is still working to clean up and rebuild, as well as to heal from the trauma of losing so much.
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Here’s a look at what the region in west Maui looked like at this time last year — and what it looks like today.
Josephine Fraser, 22, who was born and raised in Lahaina, holds her son Zyon Dias, 18 months, as she watches Ireh Dias, 3, front, run around outside their small home at Ke Ao Maluhia at the Maui Lani housing development, spearheaded by the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Wednesday, July 10, 2024, in Kahului, Hawaii. The family has moved multiple times over the past 11 months after being displaced by the 2023 wildfire and are the first to move into the modular home community being built for those affected. | Lindsey Wasson
Ekolu Lindsey, who lost the waterfront home where his family has lived for five generations during the August 2023 wildfires, stands for a photo on Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Lindsey is living at a friend’s place on Oahu. He couldn’t find anything in Lahaina for less than $4,000 a month. He returns regularly to Maui to help restore native forests, a focus of the nonprofit his father founded, Maui Cultural Lands. | Lindsey Wasson
A burned sign is seen off of the side of the Honoapiilani Highway, Friday, July 5, 2024, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Cleanup and rebuilding efforts continue after the 2023 wildfire that killed over 102 people and destroyed the historic town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. | Lindsey Wasson
Elsie Rosales waits at War Memorial Stadium for a bus to take her across the island to her workplace, Tuesday, July 9, 2024, in Wailuku, Hawaii. After arriving in Maui from the Philippines in 1999, Rosales saved her money while working as a hotel housekeeper and was able to buy a house in Lahaina in 2014. The home was wiped out in the wildfire that destroyed Lahaina. She’s now renting a two-bedroom apartment with her husband, their son and their son’s girlfriend in Kahului, an hourlong bus ride from Lahaina. | Lindsey Wasson
Morgan "Bula" Montgomery poses for a photo after practice with the Napili Canoe Club on Monday, July 8, 2024, at Hanakao'o Park in Lahaina, Hawaii. Montgomery, a recent Lahainaluna High School graduate displaced by the 2023 wildfires, plans to leave Maui this fall to study fire science at Hawaii Community College on the Big Island, inspired by the devastation and the firefighters who tried to save the community. “I want to come back to Lahaina and come back to Maui and try to be a firefighter,” he said. | Lindsey Wasson
Morgan "Bula" Montgomery helps clear water out of a canoe after practicing with the Napili Canoe Club on Monday, July 8, 2024, at Hanakao'o Park in Lahaina, Hawaii. Montgomery, a recent Lahainaluna High School graduate who was displaced by the 2023 wildfires, plans to leave Maui this fall to study fire science at Hawaii Community College on the Big Island. “I want to come back to Lahaina and come back to Maui and try to be a firefighter,” he said. | Lindsey Wasson
A driver passes by on Honoapiilani Highway near part of the burn zone, Friday, July 5, 2024, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Cleanup and rebuilding efforts continue after the 2023 wildfire that killed over 102 people and destroyed the historic town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. | Lindsey Wasson
Retired mailman and Vietnam veteran Thomas Leonard, whose condo burned in the 2023 wildfire, looks out to the ocean at his temporary residence at the Royal Kahana, Monday, July 8, 2024, in the Napili-Honokowai area near Lahaina, Hawaii. “We all got to stay together here on Maui," Leonard said. "We’re going to survive and it’s going to come back.” | Lindsey Wasson
Clifford I'i waters various plants at a memorial for the victims of the Lahaina wildfire, overlooking the Lahaina Bypass, Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Cleanup and rebuilding efforts continue after the 2023 wildfire that killed over 102 people and destroyed the historic town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. | Lindsey Wasson
Capt. Ikaika Blackburn, an 18-year veteran of the Maui Fire Department, who led one of the crews that responded to the 2023 Lahaina wildfire, poses for a photo on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, in Kahului, Hawaii. His five-person crew was one of the first on scene Aug. 8. There was no time to think, "no time to have these sentimental feelings,” as he fought through the night. At daybreak, it set in: “We lost Lahaina.” | Lindsey Wasson
Water slashes against the seawall near Front Street, Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Cleanup and rebuilding efforts continue after the 2023 wildfire that killed over 102 people and destroyed the historic town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. | Lindsey Wasson
A sailboat is seen through a sidewalk fence damaged by the 2023 wildfire on Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Lahaina, Hawaii. Thousands of displaced residents on Maui have faced a year of anxious uncertainty since the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century devastated Lahaina. | Lindsey Wasson
Kuhio Lewis, CEO of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, gives a tour of the Ke Ao Maluhia community at the Maui Lani housing development, Monday, July 8, 2024, in Kahului, Hawaii. A total of 50 two-bedroom modular homes are planned to be built and will be available only to those directly affected by the 2023 wildfires. | Lindsey Wasson
Waiola Church and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street, Aug. 8, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The parties in lawsuits seeking damages for last year’s Maui wildfires have reached a $4 billion global settlement, a court filing said Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. The agreement comes nearly one year after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed 102 people and destroyed the historic downtown area of Lahaina on Maui. | Matthew Thayer
A man reacts as he sits on the Lahaina historic banyan tree damaged by the wildfire, Aug. 11, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The parties involved in Lahaina wildfire lawsuits against the state of Hawaii, Maui County and utilities are close to a global settlement of claims that will be worth a little over $4 billion, Gov. Josh Green told The Associated Press on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. | Rick Bowmer
A wasteland of burned-out homes and obliterated communities is left on Aug. 10, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii, following the wildfire that devastated the area. The parties in lawsuits seeking damages for last year’s Maui wildfires have reached a $4 billion global settlement, a court filing said Friday, Aug. 2, 2024. The agreement comes nearly one year after the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century killed 102 people and destroyed the historic downtown area of Lahaina on Maui. | Rick Bowmer
Crews use dogs to search for human remains as they move from structure to structure and car to car on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Response to the Maui fire that destroyed a large portion of the town of Lahaina, Hawaii, continues to come from neighboring islands and the mainland. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Lindsay Hughes sorts the tracking numbers for all the boxes and suitcases at the Kahului Airport that she and her husband, T, brought back from the mainland to Kihei, Hawaii, on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. Response to the Maui fire that destroyed a large portion of the town of Lahaina continues from neighboring islands and the mainland. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Members of Task Force 6 from Riverside, Calif., help carry relief packages brought over from the mainland by T and Lindsay Hughes toward the curb at the airport in Kahului, Hawaii, on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023, as part of the response to the Maui fire that destroyed a large portion of the town of Lahaina. Help from neighboring islands and the mainland keep coming to assist the residents. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
A bike wheel sits in a burned field of Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Response to the fire continues to come in from neighboring islands and the mainland. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
A home sits destroyed in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Response to the fire continues to come in from neighboring islands and the mainland. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
A section of homes sit destroyed in Lahaina, Hawaii, on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. Response to the fire continues to come in from neighboring islands and the mainland. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Noni Mirkovich and her daughter, Lani Williams, hug after doing an interview on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, talking about their experience of being forced into the ocean to survive the flames in Lahaina, Hawaii. The two and several others had to stay in the water for hours as the fire raged on shore. Response to the Maui fire that destroyed a large portion of the town of Lahaina continue to come in from neighboring islands and the mainland. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Lani Williams and her mother, Noni Mirkovich, hold hands as they give an interview on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, about their experience of being forced into the ocean to survive the flames in Lahaina, Hawaii. The two and several others had to stay in the water for hours as the fire raged on shore. The response to the Maui fire that destroyed a large portion of the town continues to come in from neighboring islands and the mainland. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
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