Lahaina Fires and Seattle Boat

Below is an internal letter sent by our FunShare & Fuel Dock Manager, Andy Devine, on behalf of the Seattle Boat Staff closely affected by this tragedy. 

Aloha,

As I’m sure that everyone is now aware of, last weeks wildfires on the island of Maui and more specifically the town of Lahaina. The fires have completely destroyed this historic town and left a trail of death and destruction. What you may not know is that Seattle Boat Company employs multiple people who are either from  Hawaii or have lived in Hawaii for extended periods of time making this tragedy hit a little closer to home.

Personally I have lived on the island of Maui off and on for much of my life. When I first moved to Maui at the age of 20 I lived in downtown Lahaina and lived and worked on Front Street which is the main street through Lahaina that you see in all the recent fire photos. My daily routine was to walk through town on Front Street to surf at Harbors and Breakwall and then to work at an ocean front restaurant in the evening. Later on I continued working in Lahaina Harbor for a charter company of 3 boats and then started an activities company that sold all charters out of Lahaina Harbor. My son Crew went to school at King Kamehameha right next to the Harbor. Last week the fire in Lahaina completely destroyed every one of these locations along with everything within 3 miles of downtown Lahaina.

Tony Boyle, Newport Forklift Operator lived in downtown Lahaina for many years and worked for the same company in the Harbor. The devastation that you see one block away from the Harbor is literally where Tony lived. Lahaina was Tony’s town, you could not go through Lahaina without seeing Tony on his yellow scooter or chatting it up with his customers at a local watering hole. Tony worked on the 50’ Santa Cruz sailboat named Scotch Mist. He was a mainstay in the Harbor and during his time on the boat Tony was the number one mentioned employee on the highest rated trip in Lahaina Harbor on TripAdvisor. Please make sure to give Tony a nod and hello when you see him during this difficult time. Again, this was Tony’s town. (It’s hard to tell but we think the picture below is the sailboat that we worked on.)

Leilani McElroy, FunShare Supervisor is from the Big Island of Hawaii. Although she doesn’t come from Lahaina she is Hawaiian born and the locals are all connected in a way that most people can’t understand. Leilani has friends and family all over the islands including Maui and having to watch one of the islands where her and her family are from is also a devastating event to see.

Kalena Comeau, Newport Dockhand is from the island of Oahu where she was born and raised on the eastside town of Kaneohe. Just like Leilani, Kalena is Hawaiian born and this tragedy hits hard. She lived on Oahu until the age of 8 and moved off island only to return 4 years ago until making her way back recently moving to Sammamish.

Dante Sbarbaro, Lake Union FunShare is also from the island of Oahu and from the eastside towns of Kaneohe and Kailua. The eastside of Oahu could be considered very similar to Lahaina. Smaller, close knit community away from the big city where everyone knows everyone. Talking with Dante after the fires he, just like all of us carry the same concerned look as we watched the destruction of Hawaiian town.

Crew DeVine, Newport FunShare spent his younger years living in Maui. His elementary school King Kamehameha III which is located in downtown Lahaina was completely destroyed. Crew hasn’t lived full time on Maui for years but we made sure to bring him back as often as possible so he would never lose his roots to the islands.

Brandon Irons, Forklift Operator has lived on Kauai off and on since he was a kid and frequently is back in Hawaii.

Kaikea Eugenio, Kent Detailer I believe was born and raised on Maui. Kaikea has currently flown home to Maui to deal with personal situations. Please keep your thoughts and good wishes with Kaikea and his family. Donation links for his family below.

All of us have a deep connection to Hawaii and its wonderful people, community, family and friends an although this is a difficult time for all of us it is nothing compared to the current residents of Lahaina and upcountry Maui. This fire has ripped apart the entire town displacing everyone who lived there. Speaking with our Lahaina crew of friends over the last couple of days, they have lost everything. Their homes have been reduced to ashes along with every possession they owned. For these residents of Lahaina they have no home, no job and no idea of how to carry on. If you have the means, please consider donating to help. I sincerely apologize for using a work email to ask for help but this is very important. Here are a couple links.

PLEASE WATCH: Here’s drone footage of Lahaina after the fire. https://youtu.be/A_soqwxOgog

Here are direct links to Kaikea’s family in Lahaina and their GFM account - Fundraiser by love pacheco : 'Ohana Criste Fire Relief (gofundme.com) - Fundraiser by Nicolas Vierra : Lahaina Fire Relief Fund for Rena & Kalani Vierra (gofundme.com)

Here’s how to donate to the Salvation Army of Hawaii - https://fundraise.salvationarmyhawaii.org/give/508539/#!/donation/checkout

Here’s how to donate to the Red Cross Maui Fires - https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation.html/

Here’s a link to a GoFundMe that our Friends Caleb and Jen created to help. They live just south of Lahaina and were fortunate enough to have their home not be burnt and are now hosting a large number of Lahaina residents at their property. https://www.gofundme.com/f/n3vrmm-lahaina-ohana-help?utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_source=customer

Here’s a google doc with actual families who have set up GFM accounts

Help Maui Rise: Directly Aid ʻOhana Displaced by Fires - Google Drive

 Here’s a google doc list of other orgs to donate

Central Maui WWW - August disaster coordination - Google Drive

If you do decide to donate. Please do your own research on how you believe the money to be best spent. If you don’t have money to donate please consider donating other items such as food and clothing. Also, most natural disasters tend to get most of their relief funds immediately following the disaster and then relief fades. This disaster will be a long lasting one and help anytime over the next weeks, months and years will continue to help.

Lahaina Harbor before the fire

Lahaina Harbor after the fire, we believe the boat below is the boat Tony and I worked on based off the rails and the location in the harbor.

Cheers,

Andy DeVine
FunShare & Fuel Dock Manager