Summary:
- West Maui residents demonstrated courage by staying behind to fight the Lahaina blaze, saving homes.
- Sean Bouge, a resident of Lahaina Luna Road, took it upon himself to defend his community.
- Bouge's initial confidence wavered as the fire intensified, prompting him to evacuate and organize others to help.
- Bouge's resourcefulness and familiarity with local landmarks enabled him to fight the fire effectively.
- Despite challenges, Bouge's determination led him to reconnect with his family and contribute to firefighting efforts.
- His actions, along with the collective efforts of the fire department, saved multiple homes in the Lea Lee community.
Almost West Maui residents tried to flee the flames. Some stayed behind to fight. Nikki Schenfeld spoke with one of those people.
Many of the residents here at Lea Lee, the community that you see behind me, say their homes are still standing here today because of the actions of a few brave Lahaina men. Sean Bouge, Serb, lived at the bottom of Lahaina Luna Road. He's seen brush fires before, and when his daughters begged him to come with them to seek safety during this fire, he thought he'd be fine. They was crying, and I just said, nah, I got this.
I'll be good. And then, yeah, it just got so bad enough, split second that I was like, oh, I had to leave. So I bailed out and found myself trapped several places in Front Street. He started driving around and picked up some homeless residents and told them if they wanted a ride, they'd have to help him fight this fire. And at 526 was my last contact with my family, and from there on, we just went to work. I love you. They went to Lahaina Methodist Church, where he had actually painted in the past and knew exactly where the utility closets and garden hoses were.
The fire was closing in on us already, and we no more no place for go. We stuck, we trapped. And, sorry. I was reading my daughter's texts, and yeah, that's what made me go to work. He started filming himself just in case he didn't make it out alive. I was like, ah, I'm gonna die. I'm gonna put my phone right there, and then when they find my phone and give them back to my family, they're gonna see that daddy was trying, was really trying to come home.
He was fighting. By morning, it was still pitch black. He took off on a bike to find his family. He made it to Lea Lee, and saw Maui Fire Department had put out a structure, but it was still so windy. So I think we'll flare up again. We'll flare up. And yeah, if we wasn't there, we wouldn't be sitting here.
He grabbed the hoses once again, broke through a fence and helped save the homes. He says the fire department did everything they could, and even his house didn't survive the fire. And we'll have a link on how you can support Sean and other families impacted by these Lahaina fires on our website, kh12.com. From Lahaina, Nikki Schenfeld, KH12 News, working for Hawaii.
This courageous account sheds light on the heroic efforts of West Maui residents who chose to stay and defend their homes against the Lahaina blaze. Despite the loss of his own home, Sean Bouge's determination and quick thinking helped save multiple properties.