Louisiana native loses home, not hope, in Maui wildfires

LAHAINA, Hi. (WGNO) — One mother with Louisiana ties is figuring out what’s next for her and her family after losing their Lahaina home and belongings to the wildfires.

Melissa Fay, who was born in Gretna but grew up in Mississippi, has lived in Lahaina in Maui County for nearly ten years.

She has dealt with your fair share of hurricanes, but wildfires were unchartered territory until now.

Fay says she and her sister made an evacuation plan on Aug. 8 following a brush fire officials thought was contained and a widespread power outage.

“Really, we were teetering between the decision of going back to my house together and waiting it out to see when the power would come back on or just embracing the traffic and leaving and heading toward the other side [of the island], so that’s what we decided to do,” Fay explained.

It was the right decision because three days after evacuating, she received a call from her landlord that all that was left of her home was debris.

“I was crying just because of everything,” Fay said. “I couldn’t believe that like everybody I know doesn’t have anything, everybody. I know so many people who don’t have anything, and I think that was the worst part about it all; it’s just how much it destroyed.”

Faye says she loved her home because it was the perfect amount of space for her and her two children and she felt secure amid the island’s housing crisis.

“Gosh, I just want to find secure housing,” Fay said. “That’s really the only thought taking over all because there’s already a problem, and I just hope that I can.”

However, Fay says Hawaii is home and is confident she will prevail.

“I know at the end of the day, I’m going to get everything back tenfold, and there’s a purpose in all this,” Fay said.

If you would like to assist Fay and her family, visit her GoFundMe.