The Lahaina Fires Lasted Hours, but the Trauma Will Take Generations to Heal

A flare-up from a reportedly contained brush fire outside Lahaina on the island of Maui, Hawaii, grew into the deadliest US fire in more than a century. The furious fire, resurrected by 80 mile per hour winds from Hurricane Dora, decimated the physical structures of the town in just under three hours¹ but will take residents decades, perhaps even generations, to recover from. The Lahaina fire, exacerbated by Hawaii’s legacy of colonialism, adds to the complex emotions that the Native Hawaiian residents are grappling with. Although the fire unfolded quickly, the cleanup, recovery, and healing require public and mental health professionals to rethink how we respond to complex trauma and collective grief in the context of historical, recurring loss.

PREVIOUS HISTORICAL LOSS

Although categorized as a “natural disaster,” the Lahaina fires were anything but natural. Centuries of colonial policies left indelible scars across Hawaii, especially on Maui. Lahaina, known outside Hawaii as a quaint tourist town, harkens back to images of Old Hawaii. In addition to once serving as the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Lahaina was an agroforest that sustained the Hawaiian community who cared for the land as one does an older sibling.^2,3 Lahaina, or Lāhainā (cruel sun), was once called Malu’ulu o Lele, or the “Shaded Breadfruit Grove of Lele.” Over time, this moniker fell out of use, as the environment no longer matched this descriptive name. Figure 1 provides a time line of Lahaina’s history.

FIGURE 1—

Timeline of Historic Lahaina: Maui, HI

As more settlers came to Hawaii seeking to make their fortunes from sugar production, once communal lands were privatized under the Great Māhele of 1848 (land redistribution and property rights reform under King Kamehameha III), paving the way for purchase and preventing Native Hawaiian families from exercising their tradition of mālama ’āina (caring for land). Plantations diverted fresh water, making way for water-intensive sugarcane in place of traditional foods. The impacts of privatization continue with modern-day resorts, which allow land to be amassed by the powerful with high water needs, resulting in a dry landscape vulnerable to disaster.⁴

The shift from subsistence-based living to a commercial economy facilitated the current dependence on tourism. The high cost of living forced many to live in multigenerational homes.⁵ Resilient Native Hawaiians have reframed this as a focus on family that allows grandparents, aunts, and uncles to stay connected with the next generation. Yet simultaneously, densely populated areas create vulnerabilities and public health concerns, including the spread of disease. After emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, these same families face yet another challenge: rebuilding their homes.

EVENT-BASED TRAUMA

The injuries and loss of life from these fires are staggering. Early recovery efforts have already unveiled anxiety, depression, and survivor’s guilt,⁶ which, when added to the colonial, historical, and intergenerational trauma already present in this community may result in higher substance misuse and suicidal ideation.^7,8 Alongside concerns about the physical well-being of survivors and their families, there was estimated overall damage of $5.52 billion.⁹ Historic structures such as the Old Lahaina Courthouse and Heritage Museum with its historic artifacts and the Waiola Church as the final resting ground for early royal family members no longer exist. Other landmarks, such as a 150-year-old banyan tree where many generations created memories, are still in danger.

The impact on extended family, loved ones, and survivors cannot be discounted. The events of August 8 exposed Lahaina residents and their loved ones, who monitored and waited for news, to significant mass trauma. Stories of residents driving away as their houses were engulfed in flames, fleeing on foot after being stuck in traffic for hours, and jumping into the ocean to escape their burning hometown are etched into peoples’ minds. Local newspapers were replete with reports of residents suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder, nightmares, and heightened anxiety. Traditional psychotherapy can help relieve some of the suffering and grief of many who experienced these events, but it is not enough.

CULTURAL TRAUMA

This event is not just a single fire but a collection of traumas that have culminated in this tragedy. Warnings were late or nonexistent, leaving residents feeling neglected by their leaders. Many Native Hawaiians, with disparate rates of chronic disease and socioeconomic outcomes, already felt that politicians have failed to address their needs. The perceived inaction in the face of potential loss of life, property, and culture that this disaster brought is a reminder of the settler-colonial mentality that the Native Hawaiian community has endured for generations.

Questions such as whether to rebuild historic places need to be discussed at the community level. What that process should look like, absent access to the beloved and grounding spaces, requires persistent attention as the situation continues to evolve and a shared vision of a desired future begins to coalesce. Meanwhile, predatory land speculators are actively soliciting affected families in an attempt to purchase coveted land below market value. Moreover, prodevelopment stakeholders are using the fires as fodder to renew calls to deregulate water allocations reserved for Native Hawaiian traditional farmers, incorrectly arguing that deregulation would increase available water to Lahaina.¹⁰ These allocations took decades to obtain and are critically important to sustain the Native Hawaiian lifeway.

The flames also took treasured knowledge centers, such as the Lahaina Historical Society and the Nā ’Aikane no Maui Cultural Center, which was home to the life works of Sam Ka’ai, recognized as a living treasure for carving and cultural teachings. His works and papers documenting his experiences and ’ike (knowledge) as a crew member on the Hōkūle’a represented the regaining of once-lost traditional wayfinding knowledge. This secondary loss of ’ike is retraumatizing an entire community. As Native Hawaiians have struggled to hold on and regain cultural knowledge, the perceived loss of momentum has been heavy on the hearts of many.

As the recovery effort continues and attention shifts to other topics, the plantation disaster capitalism economy is reemerging, as seen in the preference given to tourism.¹⁰ Reports of hotels asking displaced residents to leave in favor of higher paying tourists or requesting the relocation of food distribution centers add to the continuing trauma of the community. Recognizing that these behaviors are not new but rather the modern reincarnation of harmful colonial practices is the first step to creating a process that will heal the community.

MULTIFACETED APPROACH TO HEALING

Because Lahaina residents are not dealing with just the remnants of a disaster, traditional psychotherapy alone is insufficient. Survivors of the Lahaina fires are experiencing complex trauma, which necessitates a multifaceted approach to recovery.¹¹ Uncertainty moving forward, compounded by a government that has not been forthcoming with critical information regarding resident safety, needs to be addressed. To heal, residents need a multifaceted approach that reempowers the community to seek policy changes through shared decision-making, supports public health interventions at the individual and community levels, promotes mental health therapy, and returns power to the original inhabitants of these islands.

Traditional disaster recovery, focused on event-based trauma, incorporates mental health therapy at the individual level. As the Lahaina fires were precipitated by a complex, interwoven colonial history, the recovery process must consider the colonial trauma of this community. Connecting individuals to therapists without community-level interventions, especially those that return control to the Native Hawaiian community, will not heal community trauma.

Top-down approaches with little community consultation can be perceived as minimizing the culpability of a government that passively benefited from oppression. The scarcity of information in the aftermath of fires is a reminder of previous governmental inaction, which led to the community’s preexisting ’eha (suffering). Unraveling this with shared decision-making between federal, state, and county disaster management professionals and local community stakeholders through intentional community engagement in the recovery and rebuilding process is needed. At a minimum, transparent communication and equal access to information are needed to rebuild trust.

CONCLUSIONS

The Lahaina tragedy is a wake-up call. We need to adopt systemic changes that support healing at the individual and community levels. By addressing complex community-level trauma, we can promote true and sustainable healing. The Lahaina fires added disaster trauma to the already complex trauma that Native Hawaiians experienced because of historical and intergenerational trauma. If we want to prevent future tragedies and facilitate social justice, we need policies that acknowledge the impact that colonialism has had on people and landscapes and return control to Indigenous communities who have place-based knowledge on how best to care for the land.