LAHAINA, HAWAII: A woman has spoken about losing not only her house but also her business store because of the Hawaii wildfire. Kelley Chapman is one of the many who got severely impacted due to the disaster that reportedly started on Tuesday, August 8.
The 43-year-old from Lahaina described her hometown as a “really special” place to PEOPLE, and a "special tight community", where nearly 9,000 people live. Chapman shared that she’s so connected to the place that even when the wildfire extended outrageously, she did not want to run.
‘It was pretty wild’
She claimed, “My husband had to literally grab me and shake some common sense into me.” The woman got the lease for both her house and her store in 2018 but tragically lost them together due to the wildfire.
“We got our house and my store [on] the exact same day, and we lost it [on] the exact same day. It was pretty wild,” she said.
‘My tree in my yard fell down right next to my car’
Explaining how she got to know about the devastation, Chapman told the publication that another store owner contacted her, who told her, “Kelley, our building alarm is going off. Can you go?”
“Because she knows I'm really close. I don't think other people on the rest of the island realized the heavy amount of wind that we were receiving," she continued.
The woman went on to say, “I got in my car and I quickly drove down Front Street and I started noticing traffic heading towards my store started kind of slowly coming to a halt. My tree in my yard fell down right next to my car. There were trees down, awnings were completely torn off.”
‘This is not going to be good’
Chapman then described the horror she saw after reaching her store. She said, “It was right up at the smoke shop and I started seeing ashes flying. And I knew from my experience from 2018 when we had a fire during a tropical storm that it was quite dangerous.”
“So, I just went and I looked at my store and then I heard a massive explosion and then I said, 'Holy sh--, this is not going to be good,' because I started seeing it growing really quick. I mean, 70-mile-per-hour winds and fire. I just knew it was really bad,” she noted.
‘I tend to think I can be a warrior’
After visiting her business, Chapman returned to her house only to find “flames and smoke and everything exploding... it grew so fast, it was just unbelievable.” She stated, “My husband wanted to leave instantly, and I tend to think I can be a warrior and there were some people saying we're going to stay and fight with the hose.”
“My husband finally grabbed me and shook me and he said, 'Kelley, we are leaving right now,’” she added.
Who is Kelley Chapman?
Chapman is reportedly a designer as well as the owner of Manakai Swimwear. After losing her business and home to the wildfire, she requested monetary help via a GoFundMe.
The woman’s message on the fundraiser said, “Due to financial hardships from Covid, I wasn’t able to afford insurance which I am ashamed of.”
‘Manakai lost all inventory in the fire’
“It hasn’t been easy the last several years but if you know me, my stubbornness to succeed and get through the shit show of Covid as a small independent business was my goal,” she noted.
Chapman concluded, “Things were finally starting to look up. Manakai lost all inventory in the fire. I still have hope that I can pull through and that Lahaina can come together to rebuild. Any contribution is deeply appreciated.”
How many people has the Hawaii fire displaced?
A CNN report citing FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell has said that thousands of people have been out on the streets due to the fire. May Wedelin-Lee, a Lahainan resident, compared the destruction to an “apocalypse”.
Wedelin-Lee reportedly said, “People were crying on the side of the road and begging. Some people had bicycles, people ran, people had skateboards, and people had cats under their arms. They had a baby in tow, just sprinting down the street. The apocalypse was happening.”
Besides, as per local authorities, at least 53 people have died because of the wildfire. Hawaii Governor Joshua Booth Green said, as per CNN, “We will continue to see the loss of life. We also have many hundreds of homes destroyed, and that’s going to take a great deal of time to recover from.”
