Residents of Hawaii Discover Only Ashes After US Town Wildfires

 Residents of Hawaii Discover Only Ashes After US Town Wildfires

The wildfire that ravaged this area of Hawaiian paradise had destroyed his home, along with the majority of others in Lahaina.

Anthony La Puente returned to Lahaina, the home he had lived in for the previous 16 years, to find absolutely nothing there.

The wildfire that ravaged this area of Hawaiian paradise had destroyed his home, along with the majority of others in Lahaina.

"I can only express how painful it is. It emotionally drains you, the 44-year-old remarked.

Not being able to locate the things you used to have or the things you remember stinks.

La Puente was one among many individuals who were permitted access to what was formerly Lahaina on Friday.

The Hawaiian royal family formerly proudly called the 12,000-person village, which has stood on the island of Maui for hundreds of years, home.

Every year, thousands of visitors come to take in the ambiance, stroll along the picturesque harborfront, and relax beneath a magnificent banyan tree that is thought to be the oldest in the country.

"Yellow Xs"

The bodies of cats, birds, and other animals caught in the blaze that at least 67 people perished in on Friday were discovered by an AFP crew as they strolled around the town.

Ineffectively hanging from damaged poles were electricity lines, and little pockets of fire persisted.

The burned-out cars on the roadway were marked with yellow Xs to alert firemen that they had been inspected for casualties.

Where family houses previously stood, there were now nothing but mounds of warm ashes all throughout the town.

La Puente combed through what was once his kitchen, using a chair's metal frame as a makeshift shovel, and found a Starbucks tumbler.

The precious possessions of his late father were also gone, along with the boxes of pictures that served as a reminder of his 16 years at the home.

He claimed, "I had packed up my dad's belongings" in the hopes of one day going through them. 

But it won't ever occur.

"Now that it's gone." Another place was filled with astonished joy as neighbours hugged.

Chyna Cho exclaimed, "You made it!" as she hugged Amber Langdon in the middle of the ruins. "I was looking for you,"

For Keith Todd, it was an unimaginable relief to see that his house was still intact and that his solar panels were still supplying his kitchen with energy.

"I just couldn't believe it," Todd said to AFP.

Looking around at the unrecognisable mounds that were once his neighbours' homes, he added, "I'm so grateful, but at the same time it's so devastating."

The banyan tree

Pockets of unlikely optimism might be seen here and there throughout the area that appeared to have been bombarded.

The Maria Lanakila Catholic Church towered over the rubble of Waine'e Street, appearing to be unharmed. The wooden structure that was used to discipline rowdy sailors was no longer there, wiping 170 years of history from the ancient Hale Pa'ahao prison's stone walls.

A few blocks away, Front Street, where eateries and apparel shops had vied for views of the harbour, was all but empty.

Days-old moored boats in the harbour were melted, sank, or turned black.

The enormous banyan tree was still standing among the rubble, but its fate was unknown due to its barren limbs and awkward skeletonized trunk due to soot damage.

For 150 years, the tree has overshadowed Lahaina, keeping watch over an island country that has been a US territory, an autonomous monarchy, and eventually a full US state.

But the city it used to protect is no longer there.