LAHAINA, Maui, Hawaii – In the past, a trip to Hawaii frequently meant the start of a dream vacation. That hasn’t always been the case, though, since a massive wildfire swept through the town of Lahaina earlier this year. In response, Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief was deployed to Hawaii, Nov. 8-22, to help in one of the areas devastated by the summer wildfires that claimed at least 100 lives.
Chris Houghtaling, from First Baptist Church of Blue Springs, set up the first team of 11 volunteers responding, which were divided into two sub-teams. Part of the effort was to sift burned property, seeking items valued by the homeowners and returning the items to them.
During the mission effort there were a total of 145 ministry/chaplain contacts, 32 houses searched/sifted, 32 Bibles gifted to home owners, and 22 additional Gospel presentations.
The property recovered included wedding rings, class rings, casual rings, neck chains, bracelets and other jewelry, ceramic bowls, cups and statuary, and a number of coins, including silver dollars and even a few Krugerrands. Some other items were recovered from safes, but most contents had perished.
The work was hot and difficult, but rewarding when they saw the joy expressed by residents when the team was able to locate sentimental items for them. They were all very receptive and joined the team in a prayer circle of thanks for the items recovered and the lives spared as the fire spread throughout the community of 1,800 homes and businesses.
“This was the first time the areas were open to homeowners. Some people didn’t want us to give up searching for something in the debris. We simply put ashes in a sieve of screens over buckets and worked through it with our hands. The dust was so fine,” said blue hat (team leader) Steve Russell.
“Most of it was jewelry type stuff we found. One wanted a coffee cup made by a child. One found a missing urn with loved ones’ remains,” he added. “One lady’s grandmother had given her a bracelet, a ring, and a necklace. We could only find the bracelet, but she was still elated, and felt some closure.”
Russell, of Golden Baptist Church, in Golden, Mo., said the team was there to minister to the family, not for the items recovered. But for the fire victims, the things were a help for them.
Tim Choplin, from Norfleet Baptist in Kansas City, was another blue hat on site. He explained that returning to view the remains of their homes has been a long-awaited and highly emotional process for residents.
Before homeowners could return, the burned area had to be searched for human remains, evaluated for the safety of any remaining standing structural features and undergo an EPA Phase 1 hazardous materials removal process. This involves a zone-by-zone removal of items that can catch fire, react or explode under certain circumstances. The areas also had to be checked for materials that are corrosive or toxic, such as paints, cleaners, propane tanks, compressed fuel cylinders, ammunition, lithium-ion batteries, etc.
“We helped homeowners on different days as each zone was opened after being cleared by the EPA (for re-entry). We helped search for personal effects. They knew the layouts of the houses and where things might be,” Choplin said.
Unfortunately, Choplin said not all search efforts were successful for homeowners.
“One lady told us where some 18-carat gold rings might be,” he explained. “We just found gold nuggets. She was going to take them to a jeweler to see if something else could be made from them.
“A lot of people just wanted to talk of their experiences and were thankful someone was there to listen to them,” Choplin said.
The iconic gold shirts of DR were conversation starters in airports, as well as the Hawaiian communities.
“At one point after a Sunday lunch, I looked down the walkway in front of the surrounding shops to see five or six separate conversations taking place where a local approached our team members,” said Chris Houghtaling.
Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief isn’t done yet, though. Another MODR team left for Maui on Dec. 6 and more deployments are planned for later, pending confirmation from Hawaii.