Lahaina residents reunited with their belongings that survived in First Hawaiian Bank vault

By Malika Dudley

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    LAHAINA, Hawaii (KITV) — Many residents lost everything they owned in the Lahaina fire, but some are breathing a sigh of relief thanks to First Hawaiian Bank’s Lahaina branch.

The branch was located between Front Street and Honoapiilani Highway. After it had burned down, many were wondering if the vault contents were still intact.

“Because a lot of the other customers said that they had home safes and the safe was intact, but when they opened it, it was ashes,” says Lisa Tomihama, Senior Vice President and Regional Manager of First Hawaiian Bank. “..In the middle of all the rubble, there was our vault! Even the plastic was intact. It was, you know, pretty phenomenal.”

Crews worked from 8:30 a.m. to midnight to gain access to the vault, cutting open the wall of the vault — 12 inches of reinforced concrete. They were preparing for the worst.

“When it came out the way it did, it was like, okay, when are we going to get everybody?” says Cameron Nekota, Executive VP of Bank Properties Division.” And so it was on Saturday. By Tuesday, people could come in already.”

The safety deposit boxes were retrieved and transported to Wailuku, where the bank devoted an entire week to reunitied customers with their prized possessions.

And since many customers had lost their keys in the fires…

“They were very happy that we did have locksmiths on hand,” says Tomihama.

At least 80% of customers were reunited with their belongings, across 640 safety deposit boxes, of which 350 were rented.

“One customer, she was just crying tears of joy and she had her grandmother’s wedding ring on,” says Tomihama. “She said ‘look look, I thought I lost this forever. I thought it was gone!’”

Family heirlooms, passports, social security cards, birth certificates — all survived and in mint condition.

A vault of valuables, with a priceless outcome.

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