Grandma and cousin's home after the fire.
Andrew Greene's parents Michaeal and Jodie Greene moved to the Pembina Valley when he was 6 years old. He grew up in the Winkler/Morden area, and moved to Hawaii when he was 24 years old. He has been living in Hawaii for 15 years and recently married his wife Maylene. They live on the south side of Maui, with many of Maylene's family members residing in Lahaina, where fire quickly swept through the city burning 2,000 acres of land last week, catching many people by surprise, some unable to escape its path.
Greene described the culture of the island, and how people are handling the horrific tragedy that has changed lives and the island forever.
"Maui, especially, and I think all of the islands, there's such a strong sense of family and community that almost instantly, beyond the response from the government, Red Cross or FEMA, the local people have overwhelmingly been supporting and supplying things. It's been great, but at the same time, when you sit with people, I think so many of us are still just in shock. I see people just sitting kind of staring off into space. They're staring at a wall, just trying to process everything that's happened."
The devastation has impacted Maylene's family, many who lived in Lahaina.
"I think we've counted over 20 homes that were lost, just connected to us directly, and that represents about 50 families or so. The way that people survive here is multiple families living in one home, and so it's just the tip of the iceberg as far as the loss that happened here. Even that's been overwhelming. So, our focus has been our family, and it's been overwhelming. We're just trying to find people places to stay, make sure everybody has food to eat, and all the essentials, and things like that."
Maylene's cousin, and his family, had minutes to escape their apartment building as the warning systems had not alerted them.
"There is no cell phone service, and no power on that side of the island. As people were evacuating, and with traffic, people ended up in totally different directions, and then with no connection. There was a lot of panic, because for the first few days, nobody could locate family members and things like that, and by the time we got everybody back to the same side of the island, I guess it was from Wednesday all the way until yesterday, that's when that picture was taken with Grandma and her great granddaughter earlier."
Maylene's grandmother and other cousins had fled in another direction, and were only reunited almost a week later with the rest of the family.
Greene said her grandparents came to Hawaii, from the Philippines, many years ago with nothing, and worked in the pineapple fields to build a new life for their family. The family home burned in the fire, like many others.
"It's not just a house that was lost, it's really people's past and their future is what it feels like. And so, that's the difficult part, and why people maybe don't know what to do, because it's not just about rebuilding a house. People lost everything that they've worked for, for decades, and were hoping to leave to their kids in the future."
The search continues on the island for survivors and for the identity of those who perished in the fire. It is still early and will take a long time due to the severity of the fire.
For those who are wanting to show support for the people of Lahaina and Greene's family at this time can donate to the GoFundMe page.
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Hear the full interview with Andrew Greene and Reporter Robyn Wiebe here:
