The grim work of tallying the dead after a ferocious wildfire on the Hawaiian island of Maui came into sharp focus Saturday as crews picked through the devastation, marking homes with a bright orange X to signal they had searched for bodies and HR when they found human remains.
The grim work of tallying the dead after a ferocious wildfire on the Hawaiian island of Maui came into sharp focus Saturday as crews picked through the devastation, marking homes with a bright orange X to signal they had searched for bodies and HR when they found human remains.
The inferno swept through the centuries-old town of Lahaina on Maui’s west coast, reducing hundreds of homes to ash. The state’s chief executive said he expects more bodies to be found.
“There are already 80 fatalities. It’s going to rise,” Gov. Josh Green remarked Saturday as he toured the devastation on historic Front Street. “It will certainly be the worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced. … We can only wait and support those who are living. Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them health care, and then turn to rebuilding.”
Those who escaped were counting their blessings, thankful to be alive as they mourned those who didn’t make it.
Retired fire captain Geoff Bogar and his friend of 35 years, Franklin Trejos, initially stayed behind to help others in Lahaina and save Bogar’s house. But as the flames moved closer and closer Tuesday afternoon, they knew they had to get out. Each escaped to his own car. When Bogar’s wouldn’t start, he broke through a window to get out, then crawled on the ground until a police patrol found him and brought him to a hospital.
Trejos wasn’t as lucky. When Bogar returned the next day, he found the bones of his 68-year-old friend in the back seat of his car, lying on top of the remains of the Bogars’ beloved 3-year-old golden retriever Sam, whom he had tried to protect.
Trejos, a native of Costa Rica, had lived for years with Bogar and his wife, Shannon Weber-Bogar, helping her with her seizures when her husband couldn’t. He filled their lives with love and laughter.
“God took a really good man,” Weber-Bogar said.
Bill Wyland, who lives on the island of Oahu but owns an art gallery on Lahaina’s historic Front Street, fled on his Harley Davidson, whipping the motorcycle onto empty sidewalks Tuesday to avoid traffic-jammed roads as embers burned the hair off the back of his neck.
