As the wildfire continued for three days from the 8th (local time) to the 10th on the island of Maui, Hawaii, a world-famous tourist destination, local residents reported on the urgent situation in the major affected areas.
Fortunately, it has been reported that no casualties of Koreans or tourists have been identified yet.
In a phone call with Yonhap News on the 10th, Mr. Kim, who lives in Maui and does tourism, said, “On the afternoon of the 8th, the first day of the fire, I took guests and guided them on a tour of Lahaina. I could see it from afar,” he said.
Mr. Kim said, “There was a forest fire that day, and the firefighters put it all out, but I heard that the wind blew because of the hurricane, and in the evening (the flames) came back to life and completely covered Lahaina.” said.
According to his explanation, it was known that Lahaina, the main affected area, was intensively burned overnight from the evening of the 8th, the first day of the fire, to the morning of the next day.
According to Maui County authorities, the first wildfire was reported in the Kula region of central Maui at 0:22 am on the 8th, followed by another wildfire near the western beach town of Lahaina at 6:37 am.
However, Mr. Kim said that in the case of Lahaina, a place where many tourists stop by, there was a power outage from the morning of the 8th, and most of the shops were closed, so there were few tourists when he visited that afternoon. Therefore, he speculated that the casualties were concentrated on the residents living in the area rather than the tourists.
Maui County authorities said the death toll from the fire was tallied at 36 on the night of the 9th.
About 500 Koreans live on the island of Maui, and most of them live in the Wairuku area near Kahului Airport, Kim explained.
Mr. Kim said that 8 Koreans are self-employed in Lahaina, the main affected area, and among them, only Mr. A and Mrs. A live here, and the rest live elsewhere.
Mr. Kim said that he heard from an acquaintance of Mr. A and his wife, “(Mr. A and his wife) said that the police came to evacuate the residents토토사이트 when there was a fire in Lahaina in the evening. He said he only came out with his cell phone. He said he left all his valuables at home and left empty-handed, but since the house and shop were all burned down, property damage is likely to be great.” Mr. Kim also lamented, saying, “Since Lahaina was the capital of the former Kingdom of Hawaii, there are many historic buildings that are about 200 years old, but they have all been burned down
.
The Maui Full Gospel Church, a Korean church near Kahului Airport, prepared a shelter in preparation for damage to compatriots and tourists.
They are Korean tourists, and it is said that they experienced temporary difficulties because the road leading to the Kaanapali area, where the hotel is located, was blocked.
Kaanapali, where hotels are concentrated in western Maui, was located above Lahaina, a fire-stricken area, so the surrounding roads were controlled.
A local travel agency in Honolulu, Hawaii’s main island, said that a team of Korean tourists is currently staying in the Kaanapali area.
Mr. Park, an employee of the travel agency, said, “As direct flights were operated from the western United States to the island of Maui, demand for travel increased, and prices such as accommodation costs in local hotels rose significantly.” Tourists don’t stay overnight on Maui,” he explained.
He said, “Korean tourists usually stay on the main island and go to Maui for a day trip, but after the fire, the tour product for the day has been suspended.”
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