August 9, 2023 Firestorm

The first explosion shattered the eerie calm as they sat in their car. Roberto could smell the smoke before he saw the fire. The flames moved fast like a snake engulfing its prey. At first, the smoke billowed around them, being pushed by the whipping winds. Then he saw a glow in the distance, it was as if the sun was rising again. 

Then came the thundering sound of explosions.

“Daddy, what is going on?” His daughter Malina cried out, her voice quaking.

He stared at his wife Sophia, her eyes wide, a trickle of a tear crept down her face, “I think we need to go.”

“Where can we go? Look the flames are in those buildings right there. All the cars are stopped.” She pointed ahead, “The fire is right in front of us now, we can’t go that way.”

Roberto glanced in the rearview mirror, beyond the ashen faces of his three children he saw a truck burst into flames.

Then came another explosion.

“We have to go somewhere. The fire is coming from all sides.” He turned and stared out at the churning water of the Pacific Ocean. A thought came to him. His stomach flipped at the thought of what they must do.

“Daddy, I’m scared!” Their young son began to cry.

Roberto opened the car door, turning to his wife he shouted above the now increasing noise of the oncoming inferno, “The ocean, we need to go. Now!”

He pulled the keys out of the car and opened the back door. “Let’s go kids, there is no time.” Grabbing the youngest by the hand, he pulled him from his booster seat. Malina was already out of the door on the other side and helping her younger sister to the sidewalk.

The heat met them as if they were standing in front of a raging campfire. But this was no camping trip in the Sierra Nevadas, This was an inferno consuming everything in its path.

It was almost there. They had to move.

The Pacific Ocean beckoned them. It was a terrifying safety they ran toward its cold embrace. He lifted their youngest boy and Sophia grabbed Malina and her sister Rossana’s hands. 

They ran.

Smoke engulfed their lungs and he could feel his son coughing into his chest. Were they running from a rapid death by fire into a slow death by drowning? There was no time to think, self preservation took over.

The shock of the water was an instant relief from the searing heat around them. He heard another explosion and then swam away from shore – into a deep unknown. Were there sharks lurking below the surface waiting to consume them after they fled certain death? 

Voices drifted in the evening air. There were others in the surging waters, more people had fled the oncoming flames into the ocean’s cool embrace. He saw his wife and daughters in front of him. He’d never felt more thankful for putting them into swimming lessons when they were young. There was no way they could survive without them.

His three-year-old son squirmed in his grasp as the swam away from the terror on the shore. “Calm down Raffy, we need to stay with your sisters, let me swim and hold my back.”

Then he saw their salvation. A piece of dock crested a wave and sank with the swells. Without stopping he reached forward and grabbed on. His son scrambled up and lay on the wooden raft. 

“Malina, over here grab on!” He called out to his daughter who was drifting away. She pushed the churning water and with her little legs kicked with all her might. His wife disappeared beneath a wave behind her. “Sophia!”

Her head popped back up and he heard her gasp for air. “Rossana!” Roberto called out to his daughter, where was she? Malina reached the dock and scrambled on the raft next to her brother. They both began to cry. Where was Rossana?

Then he saw her, she was being pulled away by the current. His wife was struggling to stay on top of the tossing waves. Her hand reached out to him and just missed. He pushed with his legs and grabbed her shirt, pulling her to the raft. With her last bit of strength, Malina pulled herself onto the raft.

Now where was Rossana? She was only six she wouldn’t last long in the rushing waves. He spotted her head bob and her hands flail. She was only a few waves away, but it seemed like a million miles. Roberto dug inside himself, “Rossana! Keep swimming, Daddy’s coming!” 

I will not lose you! He swam with all his might and reached out for her. She dropped beneath a wave and he missed her outstretched hands.

No! 

Roberto dove down beneath the water of the Pacific, desperation surged through him. There she is!  His ears felt like the world was pressing into them as he dove deeper. Reaching forward he felt her hand in his grasp. She hung on and pulled, he kicked hard and pushed back up to the surface.

“Daddy!” He heard the voices of his kids as he emerged from the depths. Rossana burst out seconds later, the wonderous sound of her coughing gave him the energy to push for the raft. Sophia reached out and Malina grabbed for Rossana. The three of them pulled hard and heaved her onto the dock. He pulled hard, and the next thing he knew he was lying on the raft, his children hugging him tight.

“Daddy look.” Malina pointed at the shore a hundred yards in the distance. Even from there, they could feel the heat of the fire. Lahaina was fully engulfed in the raging inferno. There was nothing left but the billowing smoke and waving flames. Sobs of relief and grief racked his body, it was a sight that seared him to his soul.

They bobbed farther out into the ocean’s current. Their flimsy raft soon would be no match for the wrath of the South Pacific. 

A light bobbed on the horizon panning the swelling water. It flashed over their heads. Then circled again. Moments passed like molasses in the winter while the light shone down on them. 

Salvation. 

A Coast Guard cutter had them embraced in the glow of their searchlights and before they knew it they were on the deck of the vessel. Wet, and scared but alive.

Roberto wondered about all the voices he’d heard in the ocean a short time before. How many of those voices sat huddled on the deck of the ship with his family? How many never made it out of their cars? How many would never see another sunrise? How many…

***

This is a fictionalized account of one family’s escape from the fire in Lahaina, Maui Island, Hawaii. As of today the death toll from the wildfire that consumed that town and many others stands at 80. By all accounts, this toll will rise dramatically as there are still 1000 people missing and unaccounted for. 

The speed at which the fire spread was unprecedented and brings back memories of the destruction of Paradise, California. 

Wildfires, worsening storms, droughts, and floods have decimated the world in the last few years. And there is no sign any of it will let up. Climate change has begun to show its ugly face and it will only get worse. 

My heart goes out to those affected by this tragedy. We can only find solace in the tales of survival amongst the chaos.