MAUI COUNTY, Hawaii — At least six people are dead as wildfires rip through the Hawaiian island of Maui. Some of the worst destruction is impacting the historic town of Lahaina, popular with tourists and locals. KING 5 spoke with one man from Sammamish now living on Maui and a family from Seattle visiting that had to evacuate their home and hotel.
"Evacuate your family and pets now do not delay, recommended shelter is open at Maui High School gym," an emergency alert sent to KING 5’s Brady Wakayama's cousin Alex Ma read.
Ma received the alert Tuesday night. The Sammamish native is currently living in Kihei, a small town in Maui. The town has been impacted by the wildfires raging throughout the island and had emergency shelters in place. "It was completely full, people were just camping in their cars essentially,” said Ma. “I saw people bring blankets, a pillow just trying to sleep."
Ma is now back in his apartment in Kihei, which is about 20 miles away from Lahaina, which Hawaii officials said is one of the places hit the hardest by these wildfires.
One of Ma's friends who lived there got severely burned and was airlifted to an Oahu hospital, which Hawaii officials said is filling up. “A lot of emotions, just not knowing the severity, you know the condition, it's just tough to process right now," said Ma.
It's been a tough process for tourists too, like a Seattle resident who was visiting Maui. She and her family evacuated their hotel in Lahaina Tuesday morning when the power cut out.
"Our luggage is still at the hotel and there's no way we can head back,” said the woman. “But I don't know I think it was just better for us to be more safe than sorry."
She said they couldn't get back to their hotel because the roads were closed.
"We went to the Red Cross center, and we stayed there. And then we slept, all seven of us, in a minivan overnight," said the woman.
Despite the rough night, she's grateful to have her family by her side. The woman said she feels for those impacted.
"And them not being assured that they have a home is really saddening," she said.
The coast guard has rescued 14 people who raced into the ocean for safety.