‘Still heartbreaking’: Maui helicopter pilot flies over burn zone nearly a year after Lahaina fire
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The morning after the deadly wildfire in West Maui, much of the world had no idea how bad things really were.
As the sun came up on Aug. 9, 2023, the horror of it all came into focus.
The chaos of that day and the powerful force of nature that took so many lives and destroyed so many dreams, also knocked out communication with the outside world.
“I haven’t flown around Front Street or Lahaina itself since the fire,” said Richie Olsten, a long time helicopter pilot and Director of Operations at Air Maui Helicopter Tours.
The fire burned Lahaina on August 8th while Olsten was flying his normal tour to Molokai which doesn’t go by west Maui, but he saw the smoke.
Special Section: Maui Wildfire Disaster, One Year Later
”But we just figured it was the fields burning, the same thing that’s happened before with the fields,” added Olsten
The morning after the fire, with communication to west Maui cut off and very little information from public officials, this seasoned pilot wasn’t sure, like many of us, just how bad things were.
But he had a helicopter.
”I asked the owner of the company ‘hey, I’d like to fly out there and see if there’s any destruction’. He said yes,” Olsten recalled.
Pilot and crew set off from Kahului along Honoapiilani Highway and over Lahaina town. They were some of the first in the world to see how devastating the fire was.
”I get chicken skin, just talking about it right now, because it was just unbelievable. As we proceeded along the south and came up to Lahaina Harbor we saw that all the boats in the harbor, except a few of them, had burned,” he said.
“We could not believe what we were seeing. We were looking at each other in a helicopter saying, is this real? Is the town is gone?”
Olsten gets emotional as he recalls that day. He and his wife had close friends who died in the fire and others who lost their homes and everything they owned.
”You know, we were just heartbroken. We had tears in our eyes when we came back. After viewing that, we came back and landed and we were in disbelief. It was shocking,” said Olsten.
Air Maui Helicopter Tours flew in supplies for free after the fires to help those who had lost everything.
Now, a year later as the long-time Maui pilot flies above Lahaina, Olsten reflects on how much was lost, but also appreciates the progress that has been made.
”I am feeling relieved that the restoration has taken place, you know? But again the impact of it, all these homes of buildings being gone in the historic section — it is still you know heartbreaking and unimaginable.”
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