Hawaiian wildfires can’t scorch Maui memories for Lawton woman

A Lawton woman visited Maui three years ago.

With fond memories of her time visiting Lahaina, when the wildfires that burned through the Hawaiian island weeks ago, she said it broke her heart and that she may never see its idyllic setting again.

A Lawton resdient for the past 37 years, Mary Huibregtse said a trip three years ago to Maui left a lifetime of memories. Beautiful memories, she said.

“It was just nice,” she said.

When the news of the wildfires broke out in Maui earlier this month, Huibregtse said it jarred her. Especially the devastation to the town of Lahaina.

“The first week, I cried everytime I saw the news,” she said. “I thought ‘Oh my gosh.’ It’s so sad. It was so beautiful there. Everything being gone just made me really sad.”

One of the Maui icons Huibregtse remembers so fondly is the Lahaina Banyan Tree as it’s known. At 60 feet tall, the tree had grown a lot since being planted by Sheriff William Owen Smith on April 24, 1873, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first Protestant mission in Lahaina.

This isn’t the tree’s first fire. Fifty years after it was planted, a New Year’s Day fire in Lahaina that destroyed 30 buildings struck. But the tree survived. Although deeply damaged from the latest fire, Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono reported the tree still stands. In a tweet, she said arborists working on the tree have offered optimism it will bloom again and serve as a symbol of home amid the devastation.

As of Friday, 115 people were confirmed dead and, according to the FBI’s validated list, 388 names of people are known to be missing, according to CNN. In the fire begun Aug. 8, wind-whipped flames tore through the island and left Lahaina on the west side of Maui in ruins.

Knowing that is devastating, Huibregtse said.

“It was a beautiful town, I’ll tell you that,” she said. “It was like an old town and everyone was just so friendly. There were a lot of stores. … They were just the most friendliest people I’ve met. They were always willing to help.”

Huibregtse said many of the structures were made from wood. She believes “that’s partially why, probably, the fire grew so fast.”

Huibregtse, who went as a birthday gift from her sister, joined her sister and brother-in-law as well as his brother and wife for Huibregtse’s first time to Hawaii.

“And probably my last,” he said.” If I’d go back I’d probably go to a different island.”

Fire takes many things. Memories, however, last a lifetime. Every time she revisits photos from this time in paradise, Huibregtse remembers joy. Luaus were amazing and “the food was fantastic,” she said.

It’s those natural wonders, however, that took the breath away, Huibregtse said. She saw the sea turtles and watched people blow glass into amazing shapes and forms.

“The sunsets were beautiful,” she said. “The flowers were beautiful, the trees were beautiful.”

A visit to a plantation in Lahaina offered another trip highlight that can never be had again due to the fire.

“The plantation that we went to is no longer,” she said.

Huibregtse said the trip, which was around Halloween, only has one real regret attached to it.

“We stayed in a condo on the beach,” she said. “It was at Halloween and they went downtown all dressed up. I didn’t want to go and I’m so sorry I didn’t go. I wanted to see the last sunset.”

For Huibregtse, however, that’s a memory the fire can never take away. She said she prays every night for the people of Lahaina to find comfort and peace in the aftermath.

“The town itself was just beautiful from the ocean to the beaches and the sunset,” she said. “I am so glad I saw it before it burned to the ground.”