Family rescues toddler and grandmother from wildfire, forging unbreakable bond

By Mika Miyashima

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    LAHAINA, Hawaii (KITV) — As the August 8 wildfire began to ravage Lahaina, Akanesi Vaa, her husband LJ, and their three kids hopped in their car to try and escape the flames.

As the heat grew stronger, they knew they had no choice but to turn back around.

“I’m reversing like blindly. It’s dark, these embers are flying everywhere,” Nesi.

Nesi and her family pulled into a different parking lot of their apartment complex, the Lahaina Surf Apartments, right next to a car with a woman inside.

“That’s when I heard her yelling for help, ‘Please help me! I have a baby in my car,’” she recalled.

Nesi helped pull the 2-year-old girl, Kulia, out of her car seat, carrying and covering her with a wrap. At the same time, LJ helped get the toddler’s grandmother, Sallyann, and her dog out of the car.

“My 9-year-old she clinged to me just telling me that she couldn’t. She couldn’t run. Because I told them to run and don’t look back. Just being scared. Wanting to make sure that my babies were OK,” Nesi said.

“At that time I was thinking, if I got this child out and one of mines don’t make it, how would I feel? But at the end at that moment you gotta trust that god has his hand over you and your kids,” she added.

The group eventually made it to a nearby building.

“I could hear her little voice telling me, ‘Thank you auntie. Thank you auntie.’ And that broke my heart because she wasn’t even safe yet,” Nesi said. “It’s almost like she knew that she was gonna be OK. That we were gonna be OK.”

With nowhere to turn, and thinking it could be the end, Nesi says they heard a man call out to them.

“Out of nowhere you just hear this voice, ‘Hey, did you guys want to try and hop this fence?’” she remembered.

After making it over the fence, and running all the way to Front Street, some Good Samaritans picked up grandma, baby, and the dog. Nesi and her family went on to walk about three miles to the Hyatt.

The families have since reunited.

“I’m grateful each and every day for Nesi and her family. I think about it each and every day. If it wasn’t for her husband, her son, and all others who were involved, I believe there were some neighbors who helped push that fence down. I believe we’d be stuck in that fishbowl of fire, and not get out,” Sallyann Gomes said.

“It was almost like I needed that as a part of my healing. Knowing that this little girl that was in my arms during this run for life, knowing that she was OK and that her grandmother was OK,” Nesi said.

Nesi and baby girl Kulia now share a special bond.

“I feel like there is a connection with her. I’m not sure what it is. Maybe to be in her life while we’re here on Earth but I do feel connected to her,” Nesi said.

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