As families on Hawaii’s Maui Island begin returning home following the wildfires, Bay Area residents are finally reconnecting with friends or parents who lost everything.
Lahaina resident Kimo Kirkman finally made it home on Friday. But all he found was heartbreak.
"It's the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever been through," he said.
Kirkman’s family along with thousands of others have been waiting on the side of the road or inside shelters since the fires broke out Tuesday.
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Kirkman was also getting emotional as he talks about his neighbors.
"Because I love them. They've raised my girls with me," he said.
Across the ocean to the Bay Area, friends and family are just starting to connect with loved ones who ran from the flames to the other side of the island.
“I can’t count how many people I know that have lost everything,” said San Francisco resident Kaylen Kadotani.
Among those people are Kadotani’s mother. He was born and raised on Maui. His home was in Puamana Nui.
“The only identifying feature of our property is the driveway at this point, everything else is gone,” he said.
It's a sight hundreds of locals in Maui are going back to as communities return to the burn zones for the first time.
San Francisco resident Kealani Poland shared some social media stories she was looking at all day Friday. It showed friends she went to high school with in Lahaina and old neighbors standing over ashes.
“Every time I go back to look, there’s another family that I know that lost their home and needs help,” she said.
Poland said that she had been keeping track of all of those families, asking about their immediate needs and collecting funds.
“I'm worried for the local people and the native Hawaiian families, who have already been facing a housing crisis and displacement even before this happened,” she said.
As Poland helps from the mainland, families from across the Hawaiian islands are mobilizing with food and supplies.
