The red-roofed home that survived the fires in Lahaina is now a ray of hope : NPR

Table Of Content

• Ke Ao Maluhia at Maui Lani welcomes first family of residents with keys; Marks milestone for wildfire survivors
• The Hawaiian Home That Withstood Wildfire
• Priceless connections to Hawaii's ancient past were lost when cultural center burned
• "Hawaiians worked on this house"
• 2Owner of ‘miracle house’ spared by Maui fires shares guilt
• News

Fire is terrifying, but it’s also too chemically cowardly to make the leap. Many homeowners may not know, though, that choosing certain plants and ground cover also reduces fire risk. One photo of a house on Front Street in Lahaina (top) has become a remarkable image in the midst of the devastation as the only surviving house in its neighborhood. Experts are estimating that 80 percent of the buildings in the town of Lahaina, home to about 12,000 people, have been destroyed.

Ke Ao Maluhia at Maui Lani welcomes first family of residents with keys; Marks milestone for wildfire survivors

He now plans to turn the home into a base to help with rebuilding efforts. Mr Milliken said many around 20 local residents pitched in to help out with the project. He thanked many of them personally and said they are welcome to return when they can. Despite their guilt, the Millikin couple intends to help others in the area who weren’t lucky enough to keep their homes. Though they will not return to Lahaina until they are certain they won’t take any much-needed resources from survivors, Trip and Dora said they want to use their property as “a base” for those who need it. When a friend later showed the Millikins’ a photo of their house standing alone after the fire, surrounded by other not-so-lucky properties, their feelings were complicated.

The Hawaiian Home That Withstood Wildfire

Popular Mechanics also noted that since watering grass is expensive, dried-out grass is becoming increasingly common — and it's a massive fire hazard, as it's easily combustible. Drought-tolerant plants that many people have used to replace their grass, on the other hand, cannot feed flames as easily. Installing river rocks or other kinds of stones in a yard helps prevent plants from growing where homeowners don't desire any flora, as the stones take up space that cannot be occupied by greenery.

100-year-old ‘miracle house’ in Lahaina survives deadly Maui fire - Global News

100-year-old ‘miracle house’ in Lahaina survives deadly Maui fire.

Posted: Wed, 23 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Priceless connections to Hawaii's ancient past were lost when cultural center burned

Some people have also been confused by trees seen standing in Lahaina after the fire. Satellite imagery shows that while a few trees in the town remain standing, most have been burned. Fire resistance varies between trees, just like it does between houses. That has made photos of a house dubbed the “miracle house” all the more unbelievable. People on social media have questioned the authenticity of the photos and wondered why this house in particular would survive when all of its neighbors did not. Photos of the Aug. 8 and 9 wildfire that consumed Lahaina on Maui show a devastated town that looks almost entirely destroyed.

Beyond shoreline setbacks, there are other issues likely to hinder rebuilding Lahaina’s commercial area along Front Street, Abbott said. Portions are designated as flood hazard areas by FEMA, which means getting insurance for anything built there would be costly even if the county allowed it, Abbott said. Green said the decision on how fast to rebuild homes in the burn zone lies with Maui County. But he said the state wants to remove state-level impediments to rebuilding homes destroyed by the fire.

What Saved The 'Miracle House' In Lahaina? - Honolulu Civil Beat - Honolulu Civil Beat

What Saved The 'Miracle House' In Lahaina? - Honolulu Civil Beat.

Posted: Sat, 19 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Building after building is reduced to nothing more than rubble, cars are entirely burned out and trees are charred black and leafless. Abbott stressed that the SMA and other county permit rules do more than simply make things slower for owners. For instance, he pointed to the so-called “Miracle House” on Front Street, which survived the fire — in part because of its steel roof — while surrounding structures with shingle roofs burned. That’s followed by the “near home environment” — the area immediately surrounding the structure, she said. Experts suggest that homeowners clear flammable vegetation in a 5-foot radius and replace it with a hardscape feature such as paving stones or gravel — similar to what the Millikins did, she said. Bob Grover is chair of the National Association of Landscape Professionals’ Sustainability Council.

A "before" picture shows Trip and Dora Millikin's house in Lahaina before renovations began in 2021. "It's so horrifying because this is just the most wonderful community of people. Everybody knows everybody, everybody works together, it's a community." "There was a neighbor who sent a note to us and said, 'Oh, you won the lottery.' And I almost wanted to throw up when I got that. I felt so badly, because these are my friends. These are my neighbors. And that's all gone." "As soon as we can, we want to open it to our neighborhood and open it to everybody who worked on it, as a base to help rebuild our part of Lahaina," he said.

Alongside luck and potentially favorable winds, the renovations may be a key reason why the Front Street home is still standing, though none of the changes were made as a means of fire prevention. But more importantly, experts say the homeowners’ decision to replace the landscaping around the house with river stones may have also helped keep the flames at bay. The current homeowner told Civil Beat that he and his wife bought the property in 2021 and worked with the county on a historic preservation plan before starting a renovation project.

News

The nearly 100-year-old structure had been lovingly restored in recent years, but it was one of many charming homes lining the waterfront of one of Hawaii’s most historically important towns. The historic structure on Front Street is the last house standing in a neighborhood reduced to rubble. The house at 271 Front St. in Lahaina survived a wildfire because of its metal roof, a lack of vegetation along its dripline, "and a lot of divine intervention," its owner says. These stones also provided protection from the fire because stones cannot combust in the way that grass or other plants can.

Governor Josh Green has said he doesn't want to make guesses about the final death toll, but he believes the count will continue to climb by some ten people a day for the next few weeks. 'When all this was happening, there were pieces of wood - six, 12 inches long - that were on fire and just almost floating through the air with the wind and everything,' she said. Atwater Millikin, 63, said none of the changes that were made were done with the idea of fireproofing in mind - but it was these changes that ultimately saved it from ruin. Ms Atwater Millikin said in a recent interview that some of their neighbours had died in the wildfire. “There was a neighbour who sent a note to us and said, ‘Oh, you won the lottery.’ And I almost wanted to throw up when I got that,” he told the news site. The New York Times claimed at least 115 people have been reported dead, while over 1,000 others remain missing.

River stones, like those used around the Lahaina miracle house, would accomplish that. Army Corps of Engineers met with homeowners to discuss progress made toward clearing lots and restoring infrastructure. And, although drinking water and waste water systems aren’t fully restored, property owners will be able to obtain permits to rebuild homes before the systems are fully in place, county officials said. The couple, who was visiting family in Massachusetts when the fire started, had recently renovated the home, but not with the express goal of hardening it against flames. It’s easy to see how a layer of stone helps to thwart fire; stones will definitely never catch fire, and even firefighters dig ditches and spread neutral cover in order to stop fires from spreading.

Choose other mulches, or keep any combustible mulches at least five feet from your home. So when they finally got the chance to buy it, they did, and completely revamped the property. And doing that may have just been the thing that ensured its survival in the fire. He went to bed feeling physically ill out of fear for the fate of his friends, his neighborhood, and his home. Having nothing combustible in the 5 feet directly around a house is enormously important.

Beveridge said there's no way to know for sure exactly what preserved the house on Front Street, but "the metal roof and lack of adjacent flammable material ... certainly limited the means by which the structure could have ignited." Atwater Millikin and her husband have lived on Maui for close to 10 years, and bought the house about three years ago. She is an artist whose paintings focus on New England coastal scenery, and he is a recently retired portfolio manager. Aerial photos show the red-roofed home with a bright white façade still in seemingly pristine condition, against the grey-toned, ashen landscape by which it is surrounded. The fire's death toll is currently tallied at 114, with the number expected to continue rising. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, CalFire for short, says the roof is the most vulnerable part of your home.

"We love our neighborhood and love our friends, and just cannot believe that that world that we knew so well and loved — it's gone forever." "Everybody's calling it 'the miracle house,'" Trip Millikin, who owns the home at 271 Front St., told NPR. But that label makes him uncomfortable, he added, citing the flood of emotions that came with learning that while his house was spared, his community was gutted. That’s why we’re excited in the next couple days when they get to start sleeping in the same bedroom for good,” said Green. Gov. Green called it a day of progress, most importantly, for the survivors of the tragic Maui wildfires. “Building affordable housing has always been a priority for me, but since Aug. 8 and for our Maui residents in particular, its importance has become even more critical.

In fact, the other structures seen standing in Getty’s and the AP’s photographs also have more space between them and other structures as compared to most of the surrounding community. As part of these renovations, the homeowners installed a commercial-grade steel roof and replaced the landscaping about a meter around the house with river stones, Honolulu Civil Beat reported. Other photos from Getty and the AP reveal other structures that also survived the fires. Getty and the AP both photographed the Lahaina Shores Beach Resort standing alone in a neighborhood of rubble and ash.

In fires like the one in Lahaina, there are enormous amounts of flaming embers that are flying through the air. And if there’s something next to the house that is combustible — a wood fence, a bush, dry grass — that’s often what will ignite the structure, Wara said. Friends have offered an apartment in a nearby town and Dora and Trip plan to come and volunteer to work in the recovery effort. When they do, they'll also cope with the shock of seeing Lahaina without the people and places that, until Aug. 8, made up the town's fabric.