‘I’m going to walk through fire to find her’: The desperate search for 1,000 missing in Hawaii wildfires

With cell phone and power still down on Maui, people are taking extraordinary measures to find loved ones missing after the Hawaii wildfires, Bevan Hurley reports

Lahaina resident Avery Harden, 30, is missing along with her 11-month-old son Leoki and four-year-old daughter Ari (Courtesy of Rachel Engel)

Rachel Engel was on the phone with her best friend Avery Harden when gusts of up to 80mph (129kmh) whipped up by Hurricane Dora began blowing through Lahaina, on the western edge of Maui, on Monday.

“We thought it was just going to be high winds, that happens in Hawaii,” Ms Engel, from Detroit, told The Independent.

On Tuesday morning, Ms Harden phoned back to say that a fire had broken out behind her apartment building without warning.

Ms Engel advised her to pack water and two days of clothes for her daughter Ari, 4, and 11-month-old son Leoki, and get out.

Then on Tuesday night, Ms Harden phoned again to say she was heading to the Lahaina Civic Center.

“She said I love you and then the phone cut off. That was the last I heard from her.”

When Ms Engel added her friend’s name to a spreadsheet of missing people, she was number 19 on the list. By Friday, there were some 3,500 names, many have been marked found, but more than 1,000 are yet to be located.

With no means of contacting her soulmate, Ms Engel packed a bag with emergency supplies and cash, and booked a flight to Honolulu.

Avery Harden and her two children, 11-month-old son Leoki, left, and four-year-old daughter Ari, remain missing (Courtesy of Rachel Engel)

“I’m going to walk through fire to find her,” she told The Independent while driving to Detroit airport on Friday morning.

“I don’t know where she is in the chaos, and I just need to find her.”

At emergency shelters, animal sanctuaries and on social media message boards, family and friends of the 1,000 people still missing after the Maui wildfires are desperately trying to reconnect with loved ones.

The death toll from the wildfires that swept through Maui with breathtaking speed rose to 67 on Friday, with officials warning that figure only accounted for victims who were found outside of buildings.

Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen told NBC’s Today show on Friday that officials were awaiting specialist Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) search and rescue teams to begin the grim task of going door-to-door to look for survivors and assess the extent of the casualties.

“We will continue to see loss of life,” governor Josh Green said at a press conference.

Survivors have told how they had no warning of the danger until seeing flames and hearing explosions. Officials sent alerts to mobile phones, television and radio stations, but the reach was limited with power and cell phone coverage down.

Hawaii has what officials describe as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world, but there is no indication that the 400 warning sirens posted throughout the island chain sounded on Tuesday.

Terrifying images of Hawaiians who hurled themselves into the ocean to escape the fires show survivors clinging to the ocean wall while being sprayed with sea water and fire embers.

Survivors cling to a piece of wood after hurling themselves into the ocean to escape the Lahaina fires (@chefjoshuamarten / TMX)

In Lahaina, the entire town centre – filled with art galleries, churches, bars and souvenir stores – has been wiped out. Hundreds of homes have also been destroyed in the historic seat of government for native Hawaiians.

The town’s historic Banyan Tree in Lahaina was smouldering but still standing on Thursday. “Just about the only thing left, other than the Lighthouse,” Hawaii senator Brian Schatz wrote on social media.

On Friday, cell phone reception, electricity and water were still down to 11,000 residents on Maui, and supplies were shipped in by boat with many roads still closed.

Firefighters have contained 80 per cent of the Lahaina wildfire, and are continuing to tackle flare-ups at two other large fires in Kihei and Upcountry Maui.

Thousands of displaced families hunkering down in emergency shelters are in desperate need of supplies, Ms Engel told The Independent.

“I don’t think the world understands how awful this is,” she said.

The humanitarian relief effort is getting a boost from a few big names. Oprah Winfrey, who lives part-time on Maui, visited a wildfire shelter to distribute supplies. Boxing champion Floyd Mayweather has paid to fly 70 families from Maui to Honolulu.

President Joe Biden has approved a federal disaster declaration in Maui, making federal recovery funding available.

Mona Cole’s family were finally able to reach her late on Thursday night after being out of contact for 36 hours (Courtesy of Mandy Franklin-Kelley)

Mona Cole had just arrived back to her home in Lahaina from visiting family in New Jersey on Tuesday when the wildfires swept through town.

With roads closed and communication all but impossible, family members launched an all-hands-on-deck operation to try to locate her, Ms Cole’s brother Gary Franklin, who coordinated communications from his home in New Jersey, told The Independent.

“We mustered a lot of resources to try and figure out what happened to her.”

Mr Franklin’s daughter Mandy Franklin-Kelley phoned hospitals, police, the Red Cross and animal shelters, in case Ms Cole’s two pets had turned up there.

Mr Franklin’s twin brother Gregg examined before and after aerial photographs of Lahaina and worked out that Ms Cole’s unit had been spared. Around 60 per cent of the homes in her complex were destroyed.

“That was a real relief for us,” Mr Franklin said. “It narrowed down how we had to do the search from there.”

Still, the fear was very real that she hadn’t made it out.

The historic Waiola Church and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission in Lahaina, Maui (AP)

By Thursday morning, Mr Franklin’s daughter Meghan, who lives in Kihei, was hearing alarming information that the death toll was much higher than had been announced. Evacuees had perished after becoming trapped in their cars.

“We didn’t know if she was sheltered in place or did try to leave,” Mr Franklin said. “We were concerned that if she did try to leave, she might have been trapped in a vehicle.”

Another friend Melinda Young spoke to local media. University friends spread the word on social media.

“There really was a multi-pronged approach to try to find out what had happened to Mona,” Mr Franklin said.

Then on Thursday afternoon, Meghan was able to drive to Lahaina and saw a group of people in front of what was left of Ms Cole’s apartment complex and asked if anyone there knew her.

“A lady turned and said ‘yes’ and my daughter walked up to her to ask her about her whereabouts,” Mr Franklin told The Independent.

“The lady was my sister whom my daughter, in her concern and anxiety, did not recognise.”

She had managed to escape to the Hyatt Regency 3 miles (5km) north of Lahaina with her two pets, a cat and a dog.

Family on the East Coast were alerted at 3am on Friday with the good news.

“I’m so grateful Meg was able to be the family’s boots on the ground because without her, we would still be wondering,” Ms Franklin-Kelley told The Independent.

“Ours is a happy ending, many others will not be and for them, my heart is broken,” she said.