ABOVE: A scene from days after the Lahaina fire.
Shannon Wianecki, a longtime Hawaii journalist and project lead for the Lahaina Fire Archive, saw a need and stepped up to fill it. Led by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation and funded by Maui County, the archive memorializes the 2023 wildfires that burned roughly seven thousand acres and caused some $3 billion in damage. One hundred two lives were lost, as was one of Hawaii's most historic towns.
"This tragedy is still ongoing," Wianecki says. "Doing this kind of work is hugely collaborative and cathartic." Wianecki grew up on Maui and knows many who were impacted; her family had once owned a bakery at the Lahaina Wharf Cinema. She has been gathering photos, videos, rescued objects and oral histories through word of mouth, social media and talk story sessions. The archive "is meant to be crowdsourced and created with the community," she says. "The goal is to have all the demographics of Lahaina represented": Native Hawaiians, tour operators, restaurant owners, churches, schools, Filipino and Hispanic communities to name a few.
Nelson Thomas recovers his Lahainaluna High School class ring from the ruins of his parents' home upon returning for the first time since the fire. Since wildfires destroyed Lahaina on August 8, 2023, the Lahaina Fire Archive has been collecting material—in physical and digital form—to memorialize the tragedy.
The Lahaina Fire Archive is about halfway through its initial collection period, having assembled a range of seemingly disparate items that together tell a story. One interesting entry is a set of fifty iPhone clips taken where the fire started, near Wainee Street in downtown Lahaina. Each clip gets more intense as the smoke thickens. "This is so powerful, because you can really imagine the dilemma that each person faced," Wianecki says. Other items include a scorched cellphone and audio recordings of personal experiences from the staff at Star Noodle, one of the restaurants on Front Street. Many employees lost their homes and family members that day. The archive itself exists in a digital space to be accessed from anywhere, a library held in perpetuity. Selected items will be displayed at the Maui Sugar Museum in May 2025.
Collecting objects and stories that preserve a tragic history is a delicate, emotional process, but it's a kuleana that Wianecki takes seriously. "I hope it continues," she says, "so that we never forget but also find ways to heal."
