MAUI COUNTY, Hawaii — Thousands of people on Maui have lost everything due to the recent wildfires.
Many of whom have ties to the Pacific Northwest, including one woman who moved there from Seattle.
"It'll never be the same, Lahaina's gone. There's just no town left, there's no businesses," said Cheri Duncan who's still in disbelief by the destruction caused by wildfires that ravaged Maui. That includes historic Lahaina where she's lived for the past nine years after moving there from Seattle.
"We didn't have a plan, I've never evacuated, I've never had anything like that happen,” said Duncan.
Duncan evacuated her home with her brother, along with a suitcase and her three pets around 4 p.m. on Tuesday after she saw a growing brush fire heading her direction.
"It was scary, you just don't think that something like that is going to happen and we're all leaving this way but the fire was following us the whole way," said Duncan.
Not only is her home now reduced to ashes, but so is everything else she built this past year. There was a general store she helped open and a school bus she was renovating into a coffee stand, set to open in just two weeks.
"Paid for the bus outright, I used my savings on it, I already put the other half of the savings into it to create it," said Duncan.
She's heartbroken by what happened. Her tragic story is just one of the thousands of others on the island.
"It happened in all directions, to all my neighbors, to all our things so it's just hard to even feel bad for yourself, when it's just all of us," said Duncan.
However, Duncan is grateful she's able to even share her story today and is allowed to stay at a friend's house, as her community looks to rebuild.
"I want to be here to help contribute as much as I can and rebuild as much as I can and bring as much awareness to all the people that are struggling," said Duncan.
If you’d like to help Duncan, one of her friends made a GoFundMe page to help her get back on her feet.