‘I genuinely thought I was going to die’: Sacramento woman survives Maui wildfire, loses home, pets

By Michelle Bandur

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    MAUI COUNTY, Hawaii (KCRA) — A Sacramento woman moved to Maui three months ago to build a life on the island and now she’s starting over after losing everything.

Taeyla Washington, 24, needed a fresh start and was ready to begin her new life in Lahaina with her partner.

“Working on building our life here and just the future,” Washington said.

Their plans drastically changed on Aug. 8.

“It would go from pitch black to dark smoke and it was so thick, you couldn’t breathe,” she said.

She lived just a block from the main road, Lahainaluna and said the strong winds were carrying the embers.

“The ember was carried by the wind, and it would touch something and poof up in air,” Washington said.

Washington said she and her partner scrambled out of their home with their phones and wallets, just in time on the only road in and out. But she said it wasn’t easy.

“People were panicking and driving around trying to drive on sidewalks. There was a lot of traffic trying to get out,” she said. “There was fire on both sides of us, to the point where we couldn’t run, and we couldn’t drive. Everyone was driving crazy.”

Stuck in a long line of cars, she said there was nothing they could do and started to accept the fact this could be it.

“It was my genuine feelings in that moment, I genuinely thought I was going to die,” she said.

She called her father, surprised she connected to Sacramento.

“I said, I’m sorry and I love him, and I don’t think we are going to get out,’ but we did, and we are thankful for that.”

But she can’t stop thinking about those who didn’t make it–

Her partner’s parents, sister and nephew, who lived only two blocks away were found in their car.

And her beloved pets, who just arrived two weeks prior from Sacramento.

“I’m finding it really hard to process my own loss and at the same time be strong for her,” she said. “I can’t imagine what she’s feeling inside.”

As they grieve, Washington said they are thinking about their future.

It’s nothing like what they had dreamed but it will be on Maui.

“We’re taking it day by day, trying to figure it out,” said Washington.

Washington works for a property management company. But her job is on hold, as those properties are being used to give survivors a place to live, like her and her partner.

She said they have a room until Oct. 1, which she said will give them time to come up with a plan on where to go next.

Washington’s father set up a GoFundMe for his daughter, as she sets out to rebuild her life.

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