“On Wednesday morning, I got confirmation that everything was gone. My house, my street, the whole block, the neighborhood, everything was gone.”
In 2012, Danyelle Cedar was living in Morro Bay when she took a trip to Maui with her mother.
She instantly fell in love.
Six months later, she packed up everything and moved to Lahaina, the place she has called home ever since.
"It reminded me of the Embarcadero in Morro Bay. I loved French Street. I rode my bike down French Street every day to work,” Cedar said.
Last week, everything changed.
Cedar says her power went out Tuesday morning and that's when it all started.
"When I got to the parking lot, I saw a tree fall down and crush three cars and then I saw four telephone poles fall across the highway and then at the very top of Lahainaluna, I could see a fire starting," Cedar recalled, adding that she watched as the flames crept closer to her home every hour. “I could see Lahainaluna just getting swallowed by black smoke."
Cedar eventually evacuated but thought she would return home.
“I grabbed my 9-month-old godson. I grabbed my cat and I grabbed my hamper full of clothes and my computer and that was it."
By Wednesday, much of the town had been destroyed by fire.
"My home is gone. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't feel real," Cedar said.
She says she plans to return to Maui when it’s safe to do so.
There are several ways to help those in Maui who’ve been affected by the wildfires. Visit these links for more information:
