Maui wildfires affects those in Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – The death toll of the Maui wildfires is reaching over 100, and emergency services said it will continue to rise.

10/11 NOW spoke to one of Lincoln’s own who is from Maui, and she explained how she is helping her family still there, and the heartache she has experienced watching her community fall to the ground.

Kyla Heuermann was born and raised in Maui, and that place she calls home is looking a lot different. She’s currently there, near Kula, helping out her family and the community to assist as many as she can get back on their feet.

Heuermann spent 15 years in Maui before she moved to Nebraska to pursue education.

“I go frequently back and forth between the two, though,” Heuermann said. “So, I’d still call Maui my home and I call Nebraska, Lincoln, my home.”

She said because she feels the two places are very similar.

“It’s the people,” Heuermann said. “The people are really friendly, you can tell they really care about each other. So, that’s why I was okay with staying in Nebraska for my husband.”

But beginning earlier in August, her home in Maui started looking different as the wildfires have greatly affected her community, and the ones she holds close in Lahaina.

“It looks like an apocalypse happened there,” Heuermann said. “It’s just mind blowing because for anyone who has seen it. It’s forever changed.”

Heuermann said she hasn’t been to Lahaina yet out of respect, but she said people have been taking drastic measures to get the people still in Lahaina the essentials.

“People are taking boats out there because the roads are closed, taking planes out there,” Heuermann said.

Heuermann went to Maui the day after the fires began. She started to get involved with the Red Cross and a few other volunteer groups. She’s helping out at a community center where people affected by the fires are staying and plans to head back to Nebraska next week.

“It’s just heartbreaking all around to see the place that I love so much and the people who I adore affected by these fires,” Heuermann said.

Heuermann stresses that the biggest goal is to keep the people that are living in Maui there.

“There has been pages long of google docs, google sheets, of people, credible sources who have been sourcing these people out who have been affected, creating GoFundMe’s for each individual family to support the rebuild of their homes,” Heuermann said

Heuermann wants to remind people that Maui is not shut down for tourism and it’s important to support local businesses there during this time. She said we can’t let this be forgotten and the many people affected that call Maui paradise.

It’s estimated it would take $5.5 billion to rebuild Lahaina alone. Heuermann said a big way people can help is to donate to the Hawaii Community Foundation.

Copyright 2023 KOLN. All rights reserved.