Maui Residents Suffer Illness Connected to Wildfires

It’s been almost a year since the nation’s deadliest wildfires devastated the island community of Maui. While much of the debris has been removed, many residents are still dealing with worrisome health issues that experts say are connected to the fires. William Brangham has this report, it’s part of our series, Race Matters.

All that area… It was a nightmare.

While some greenery is returning to the valley behind Nancy Garrett’s home in Kula, Maui, she will never forget when this was all a blaze.

It burned right up here to my hedge, it was a wall of fire, [inaudible 00:00:39].

The fires in this rural inland area started the same day as those that consumed the town of Lahaina, 25 miles to the west. 101 people died there, and over 2000 homes and other buildings were lost. While most of Lahaina’s inferno was contained within days, the rough terrain here in Kula made it harder for firefighters and residents to control it.

And all day long, that’s all I did, I’d see flare up, flare up… It was constantly.

You were fighting the fire on your own property yourself?

Oh yes. Oh God, yeah. I did that for weeks right outside my back door here.

Garrett moved here 48 years ago, and now worries she can’t afford to fix the fire damage on her roof and fence. She also believes the smoke she breathed in last year and remaining ash are harming her health.

I cough every day, and I’m not a cougher. And it depends on what kind of day it is, if it’s windy and dry, I don’t even want to be out here, but I am, breathing it in.

Garrett is not alone, thousands of people on Maui now live in or near areas that were burned. In a recent study of residents impacted by the fires almost half reported declines in their health. Almost 40% of those examined had compromised lung function, and people who’d been directly exposed to smoke, ash, or debris reported worse symptoms.

People are still struggling with respiratory conditions post-wildfires, and then those who are more vulnerable already to respiratory health conditions, such as those with asthma, tend to have exacerbated symptoms, and need the care.

The University of Hawaii’s Alika Maunakea is an epigeneticist, someone who studies how our behavior and environment affects our genes. He co-authored the study. He says The fires not only made people sick, but they have very little access to care. Before the fires, Maui had the worst shortage of primary care providers in the state, and a 40% doctor shortage overall.

There was no clinic on island on this side. We lost the clinic that I had, and the clinic my mom had.

The Lahaina fire burned Lorraine Young’s family home. Today, this barren lot is all that’s left, but it also damaged and destroyed medical clinics.

Over here and over there.

We first met Young’s family last September, they were crowded in a temporary hotel provided by the Red Cross. Her 83-year-old mother Victoria was still processing the loss.

I close my eyes and I’m there coping, cleaning, but no more.

They’ve now found more permanent housing, but Lorraine and her siblings have to drive across Maui for their mother’s medical appointments.

Limited access to care, of course, was a huge issue, coupled with housing and unemployment and food insecurity that just compounded these conditions that we’re starting to see from our health screenings.

On top of that, Maunakea says many survivors like Alex and Sandra Olivas are contending with both physical and mental health challenges.

I think that now we’re more impacted than before because we can see the repercussions of what happened. I wasn’t sick, but now I’m feeling a little sick. Actually, a lot more sick.

The Olivas and their four children are among the nearly 2000 Maui residents still living in temporary accommodations covered by FEMA. Since the fires, Alex and Sandra have had trouble breathing and must now use inhalers. Alex was diagnosed with diabetes last month, and is also now battling high blood pressure.

I had a lot, a lot of anxiety, I couldn’t sleep for months.

I also get depressed sometimes, but I have to be strong for my kids.

You do believe absolutely that this is because of the fire?

Yes, because before the fires, I had my home, we had our life, and now we don’t.

According to the study, over half the survivors show signs of depression, compared to just a third before the tragedy. Rates of anxiety and other mental health issues also spiked and have remained high. While the Olivas can get by speaking English, they say it’s near impossible to receive care in their native Spanish.

We have struggled a lot with that, with the language, and when we go to the doctor, there’s actually no one to translate.

Maui’s Latino community faces other unique challenges.

About 38% of Hispanic respondents reported they had no insurance coverage, and that’s six times higher than the state average.

When Maui’s tourism cratered after the fires, many of their jobs disappeared, taking their incomes and their health insurance.

We already knew that populations that experience health disparities would be more vulnerable to these disasters, and the trauma that follows just further widens inequities.

One factor Maunakea’s study says can make a difference in how people rebound, social connections. Maui residents who reported high levels of social support had better mental health. When we were first here, we saw local Hawaiians banding together to provide food, clothes, and other supplies.

Have a good day.

Local schools have also stepped up to provide that same support.

We’ve been able to provide services for the children to help them have some sense of normalcy in their situation.

Tonata Lolesio is the principal of Sacred Heart School, it’s 162-year-old Catholic pre-K through 12 school in Lahaina, that burned. More than half its students and faculty were displaced by the fires, but the school continued with makeshift classrooms at a nearby church.

This last day of this school year was very special, we hugged, we cried, it felt as though we made it.

But she’s relieved they found a new temporary campus, with four walls and air conditioning for the upcoming year.

We still have a long way to go, but having this new school was really a ray of hope for us, because we’re moving forward together as a school Ohana.

A show of resilience and a slow return to normalcy for a community that is still scarred by fire. For the PBS NewsHour, I’m William Brangham.