Immigrant workers' lives, livelihoods and documents in limbo after the Hawaii fire
CTV
Freddy Tomas was working in his yard in Lahaina when the fire advanced with stunning speed right up to his fence. He rushed to save valuables from a safe inside his house but realized he didn't have time and fled, his face blackened with soot.
Freddy Tomas was working in his yard in Lahaina when the fire advanced with stunning speed right up to his fence. He rushed to save valuables from a safe inside his house but realized he didn't have time and fled, his face blackened with soot.
Days after fleeing in his pickup truck, amid smoke so thick he could only follow the red taillights of the vehicle in front of him and pray they were going the right way, the retired hotel worker from the Philippines returned to his destroyed home with his son to look for the safe. Tomas, 65, said it had contained passports, naturalization papers, other important documents and US$35,000.
After sifting through the ashes, father and son found the safe, but it had popped open in the fire, whipped by hurricane-force winds, and its contents were incinerated.
For immigrants like Tomas, Lahaina was an oasis, with nearly double the foreign-born population of the U.S. mainland. Now, those workers are trying to piece their lives back together after the Aug. 8 fire levelled the town.
Maui County and the Maui Police Department on Sunday confirmed the identifies of another five victims of the wildfires that devastated the area, the county website said. The confirmed death toll remained at 114 as investigators continued to search the area.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Sunday on the CBS News show "Face the Nation" that "an army of search and rescue teams" with 41 dogs have covered 85 per cent of the impacted area.
Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said in a social media post Sunday that 27 victims have been identified and 11 families were notified of the losses. The FBI and the Maui County Medical Examiner and Coroner office are working together to identify the recovered remains.
