Emma Lazzari waves in front of her house in Lahaina, Hawaii in a photo taken before the Aug. 8 wildfires. Lazzari said her house was near popular surf spots and friends would often park there to get access to the beach. (Photo courtesy Emma Lazzari)
A member of the Lincoln County community, Emma Lazzari, formerly of Damariscotta, had her residence in Lahaina, Hawaii destroyed by the devastating fires engulfing the western shores of Maui, Tuesday, Aug. 8.
Lazzari happened to be on vacation in Noosa, Australia visiting a friend when the fires began the evening of Tuesday, Aug 8 on Maui, Hawaii’s second largest island.
“I feel grateful to be safe and OK,” Lazzari said. “I’m slowly hearing from my friends that they’re unharmed.”
Lazzari grew up in Damariscotta and attended Lincoln Academy, graduating in 2011 where she then attended Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y.
With her Bachelor of Science in athletic training complete and being fed up with the cold, Lazzari packed a backpack and moved to Hawaii has been there for the last eight years.
Emma Lazzari’s truck sits among the destruction of the Maui wildfires in Hawaii. While Lazzari, a Damariscotta native, was not on the island at the time of the fires, most of her belongings were destroyed. (Photo courtesy Emma Lazzari)
“The community here is similar to the Midcoast community” Lazzari said. “It’s a slower pace of life, and (Lahaina) may be a little bigger, but the people here have your back, just like in Maine.”
According to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, since Aug. 8, the fires have killed at least 99. He expects that number to continue to rise as rescue crews are able to return and search more of the area.
“The full extent of the destruction of Lahaina will shock you. It does appear that a bomb went off,” he said at a news conference on Thursday afternoon, Aug. 10. “It will be a new Lahaina.”
Aerial images emerging from Maui reveal a grim landscape charred by the ongoing disaster. According to Green, more than 2,700 structures were affected or have been destroyed in Lahaina, a city of approximately 13,000 residents.
The photos were hard for Lazzari to see, but in a strange way, she felt that seeing them was good for her.
“Looking at the photos, there’s a lot of weird feelings,” Lazzari said. “It’s hard but it solidifies in my head that things are actually gone.”
The cause of the Maui wildfires, which started Aug. 8, is unknown, but they have already become the state’s deadliest natural disaster, surpassing the record of 61 fatalities incurred from a tsunami that hit Hilo Bay in 1960.
Lazzari remains hopeful despite the significant material losses she’s incurred.
“It’s just stuff, what’s important is that I’m safe and hearing that my friends and community are OK,” Lazzari said.
Lazzari is extending her stay in Noosa slightly, but is set to return to Lahaina within a week’s time and is eager to begin helping how she can.
“Friends have reached out, whose houses weren’t burned down, and offered for me to stay,” Lazzari said.
A friend of Lazzari’s, Montana Blackman, has set up a fundraiser on the platform GoFundMe to help her get on her feet.
“(Lazzari) will return to no house, no clothes, no car and a loss of mementos and memories,” Blackman wrote in the description of the gofundme page. “If you know her, you know she’s resilient and is in as good of spirits as is possible at a time like this.”
For more information, go to gofund.me/4da20808.
The driveway of Emma Lazzari’s house in Lahaina, Hawaii on Wednesday, Aug. 10. The Maui wildfires burned her home, along with 2,700 other structures, to the ground. (Photo courtesy Emma Lazzari)
