'Everything was...going up in flames': Pastor and wife recount harrowing escape from Maui fires

for more now I would like to welcome in pastor kawi kaahi and his wife Shalia of King's Chapel in hard hit Lahaina we understand it has been a brutal and emotional couple of days I just want to say first it's good to see both of you looking at least physically well as we know what the damage is like there on the island so thanks for joining us you both escaped your home with your two young children when the Wildfire engulfed your neighborhood first if you can tell me what the conditions were like and then how fast did the danger escalate for you um it was really fast our neighbor came over thank you JJ our neighbor came over and he he let us know that the fire was right above us at um oh no and um one of our street names in Lahaina and uh we uh so we got a few things and got in the car and went we didn't want to wait because we didn't want to get stuck in traffic and so we got our children our dog and stepped in the car and I told my husband to head toward dads who lived in waikapu and um uh traffic was just congested everyone was trying to leave you know so we headed down Dickinson turning on to Front Street then when we reached Front Street I mean the fire had already crossed over past our house onto Front Street and then you just seen buildings on fire on front street cars just being in gold in Smoke and I almost took the wrong turn but my wife told me to go left so you know I ended up going left and everybody that was going in towards line instead of leaving Ohio ended up getting stuck there building started falling apart and uh we just headed out and I mean it's just behind the buses we're looking ahead towards Wailuku side I mean it's just clear skies and behind us the sky is just dark black like everything was just going off in flames and you know I just a lot of people who should have been evacuating were just walking around and we're like looking like you should be leaving and you know foreign people were kind of giving up they they just weren't you know trying to get out I it was such a weird feeling those Eerie feelings I I can hear the emotion obviously and and see it in your face this is obviously a trauma for everybody who has experienced it but you know first you both are parents and uh as as a father I can only imagine what was the first thing that went through your mind it was obviously securing your family right yeah it's just getting my family out you know it wasn't you know some people I'm sorry about your home you know what I don't really care about my own my home is replaceable I left with what was valuable and that's my family you know and it breaks my heart that a lot of families didn't have what I had to leave with my family a lot of families didn't have that opportunity to live with their families you know they died with their families you know my heart just breaks for them you know yeah well it mine does as well but I'm so glad your family is is intact tonight uh at least physically you know your church in Lahaina was among the buildings destroyed uh in the fire but put into perspective the kind of damage that you saw in this historic community that you love so much well the community you know I know we know um that they're pulling together to try to go back in and get the supplies that people need and we we're grateful for that you know our our church has been mobilized we we're thankful to be part of a big church you know we have uh have many locations and uh so our church in Kahului is uh helping in the efforts to get supplies together and as soon as we get the green light to go in to um get supplies to the homes in Kahana and the pili and things like that that the people that are still in there um we're gonna do that and um we're providing a place to stay for the for the people that are coming out you both are native Hawaiians and and we know the islands are a place of deep spirituality what role will Faith play not only for you but people on that island uh as the recovery begins over the next days weeks and years ahead or just bringing comfort you know for real and just letting them know you know one one thing with you know Kings who were family we're a personal Church you know we get involved with our community you know we love on people and we just want people to know that we're there for them well I'm so hard to know that your family is is together tonight and you do you do have everything uh you know that is really Irreplaceable with you tonight Pastor Cowie and kahi thank you so much we appreciate you joining us and we wish you the very best in in the recovery ahead all right thank you God bless God bless hi everyone George Stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our Channel and don't forget to download the ABC News app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

Views: 59,633

Keywords: abc, church, hawaii, lahaina, live, maui, news, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-102185140, pastor, prime, wildfires, survivor story, details, escape, smoke, survival story, fires, hawaii fire, ABC News, interview

Id: axhBW5yOSdU

Length: 6min 3sec (363 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 10 2023