DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS

Ka ʻOihana ʻĀina Hoʻopulapula Hawaiʻi

JOSH GREEN, M.D.

GOVERNOR

KE KIAʻĀINA

KALI WATSON

CHAIRPERSON

HAWAIIAN HOMES COMMISSION

VILLAGES OF LEIALIʻI COMPLETES FIREWISE COMMUNITY HAZARD ASSESSMENT

Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization, homestead leaders evaluate community risks, develop action plan

Homestead leader Kai Pelayo, center, guides Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization Firewise coordinators through the Villages of Leialiʻi.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 16, 2024

LAHAINA, MAUI - Kai Pelayo recalls being among the final few homesteaders to evacuate as fast-moving flames encroached upon the Villages of Leialiʻi on August 8, 2023. As he stepped into the ash-laden streets of his Lahaina neighborhood, he was met by an impenetrable wall of black smoke, leaving him with no clear path in sight.

Fourteen months after that inconceivable day, Pelayo guides a group through those same streets to evaluate the community's wildfire risks with the vision of never again seeing an event so destructive.

"We're coming together with Firewise because we realize that we need to have a hand in our own future," Pelayo said. "Our participation in the assessment is our way of taking care of ourselves so we can be prepared to help others."

For three hours, the group - Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization (HWMO) staff supported by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife, homestead leaders and volunteers - walked the neighborhood surveying overgrown vegetation, noting surrounding buildings, logistical infrastructure and potential fire fuels that could impact a safe and effective fire response.

The assessment, conducted on Friday, October 11, 2024, marked the initial step to attaining national recognition as a Firewise community.

HWMO will develop a report based on the community assessment and will allow the community to follow up with an action plan to increase its safety and community resiliency around wildfires. Once these requirements are met, the report will be submitted and the application for national recognition by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) will be reviewed.

Earning national recognition can take a neighborhood anywhere between three to 12 months.

"Some say we're lucky here in Leialiʻi because our homes are still standing," said Archie Kalepa, Hawaiian Homes Maui Commissioner and Leialiʻi lessee. "What they don't see are the ghosts of uncertainty we live with, everything that's yet to come, and because of this, we need to be a part of the solution in keeping our people and community safe."

A ninth-generation west Maui resident, Kalepa has seen Maui's changing climate from the land and sea, "The subtle changes most people don't recognize, the eroding Lahaina shoreline, the lack of rain. Moving forward we need to actively engage our communities, work collaboratively with the department and find ways that ensure our homes are here for generations to come."

HWMO launched the Firewise program in 2015. Prior to the wildfires in 2023, 15 Firewise communities were established. Since then, a total of 25 Firewise communities have been recognized statewide with another 16 neighborhoods in the application process.

"We have neighborhoods that are more scared than ever and residents understand that firefighting is the last line of defense," said Nani Barretto, HWMO co-executive director.

Sitting, knees weary, after a miles-long walk through the neighborhood, Pelayo pondered the purpose behind the group's visit to the Villages of Leialiʻi: more than one hundred lives lost, a picturesque coastal community nearly erased and countless lives forever changed.

And though Friday's asssessment was a progressive step forward, Pelayo knows the work to create a united, safe, fire-resilient neighborhood doesn't stop there.

Choking back tears, he shared a message to other communities looking to become Firewise, "Don't wait for a fire, do something now."

The Villages of Leialiʻi lost two of its 104 residential lots in the Maui wildfires.

Four of the more than 50 Department of Hawaiian Home Lands homesteads are Firewise certified. It's the department's goal to have every homestead recognized as Firewise communities.

Click here to download visuals, soundbites.

B-ROLL (1:44)

SOUNDBITES

Cassandra Smith, Maui County Firewise program coordinator, Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization

(19 seconds)

"Today was the first step in bringing all our partners and all the volunteer community members together and today is the first step in getting the conversation started about the specific fire mitigation concerns of the community and the priority projects they would like to do to mitigate against that risk."

Kai Pelayo, Villages of Leialiʻi homesteader

(12 seconds)

"This is something we can do for ourselves, we can take care of our own safety, we can take care of our community, the Firewise is going to help us with education, they are going to help us with training

(14 seconds)

"The knowledge that they're bringing and sharing with us has been immensely helpful and with empathy and the sense of community that they bring so it's been very helpful and it's been very positive

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About the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands:

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands carries out Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole's vision of rehabilitating native Hawaiians by returning them to the land. Established by U.S. Congress in 1921 with the passage of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, the Hawaiian homesteading program run by DHHL includes management of more than 200,000 acres of land statewide with the specific purpose of developing and delivering homesteading.

Media Contact:

Diamond Badajos

Information and Community Relations Officer

Department of Hawaiian Home Lands

Cell: 808-342-0873

[email protected]

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