CHAOS: From Front Street in downtown Lahaina, Tuesday, August 8, 2023. Photo: Alan Dickar / AP / NTB
Mike Cicchino and his family had to flee for their lives when their neighborhood on the island of Maui was turned into a war zone.
Published:
Less than 20 minutes ago
Although the smoke obscured the sun, the authorities had announced that the fire which started on Tuesday morning last week was under control, writes the news agency AP.
Cicchino therefore decided to take the car to the nearest hardware store to buy a generator, as the electricity in his house had gone out.
As he turned off his street, he saw that the entire Lahaina neighborhood was turning into a war zone.
– When I rounded the corner, I saw pandemoniumpandemoniumIn antiquity, pandemonium was the term for a temple for all gods or demigods. Later, the word took on the meaning of residence for evil spirits, he tells AP:
– I saw people running and grabbing their babies and screaming and jumping into the cars.
There and then a fight for life starts for Cicchino and his neighbours.
RESCUED: Mike Cicchino and his wife hug Mike’s mother, Susan Ramos. They were reunited at a shelter after the fire in Hawaii. Photo: Mike Eilers/AP
– Everything burned
The fires in the state of Hawaii are the deadliest in the United States since 1918. Authorities have confirmed that 96 people have died so far.
This Tuesday, Cicchino decided to do a U-turn and run into the house and shout to his wife:
– We have to go! We have to get out of here now!
They ran to the car with their five dogs and called the police, who told them to just follow the traffic.
The problem was that the only main road leading in and out of Lahaina was blocked, so everyone had to find a minor way out.
A few blocks away, the wind was so strong that it tore the roof off houses, says Cicchino. It felt like tornado after tornado cut down the street. Black smoke billowed towards them.
“We are all driving into a death trap,” thought Cicchino and said to his wife:
– We have to leave the car and run for our lives.
They also got the dogs out, but it was impossible to know which way they would run.
– Behind us, right in front of us, next to us: Everything was on fire, says Cicchino.
Describes a nightmare
It was less than 15 minutes since he left the house. But now he called his mother, brother and daughter and said he loved them.
The black smoke was so thick that they could only see their white dogs. Propane tanks from a van exploded nearby.
– It was like a war, says Cicchino.
He and his wife managed to get down to the lake, where they took off their clothes which they dipped in water and held in front of their faces. Cicchino tells AP that he saw burned and dead people.
For the next five or six hours, they moved back and forth between the sea and land, where there was a fire. Several times he thought: “This must just be a nightmare. This can’t be real. This cannot actually happen.”
At 5:45 p.m., the US Coast Guard received a notification about the fires and people lying in and near the water at Lahaina.
Cicchino and others used their cellphones to flash lights so rescue vessels would spot them. Finally, fire trucks came and carried them out, through the flames.
Today, he wakes up at night from dreams of dead people and dead dogs. Two of his dogs are still missing, so he wonders: Could I have saved more people? Could I have saved the dogs?
Police Chief John Pelletier has stated to People Magazine that they do not know how many have not been accounted for on the island, but that he estimates the number to be around 1,000 people.
It is expected that the death toll will rise.
According to NTB, the authorities’ handling of the forest fires must be investigated.
Published:
Published: 15.08.23 at 01:53
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2023-08-14 23:53:47
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