Rising from the Ashes: Our Journey Back Home to Lahaina

It was a moment a few days after we lost our home and all of our belongings in the Lahaina wildfire on August 8, 2023. Over breakfast, while we were all starting to process what had just happened, my older daughter said she would probably never live in our house full-time again. She was about to start her freshman year of high school. I sat there, holding back tears, and thought to myself, “Oh yes, you will.” I had four years to plan, build, and move into a house so my whole family could live together where we considered home—before they went out into the world themselves. Considering I had no idea where we would be living at that moment, or how to navigate living through trauma and a wildfire, I was determined.

Now, here we are in September 2025, preparing to move into our new, rebuilt house. There are a few very key things that helped us reach this pivotal moment. There are also some things I’ve come to realize that make this moment both happy and sad.

Some Blessings and a Few Curses

The day after the fire, my husband and I called our insurance company. We use an independent insurance broker. I had completely forgotten until that moment that we had upgraded our home insurance a couple of years before. Our insurance broker had called to tell us we were severely underinsured, and after initially brushing her off, we ended up upgrading our insurance and then forgetting about it. That small moment ended up changing everything for us. We came to find out we were adequately insured.

In the following weeks, we learned our school was reopening, located about seven miles north of the fire. We were also offered a home to live in West Maui, which allowed us to go back to work and school. This family were acquaintances at the time, but their generosity was pivotal for us. We were able to let the reality of our new situation settle in and come up with a plan without the added stress of continually moving, like others were doing. This family will always be part of our story—and now we call them friends.

Since the timeline for rebuilding was unknown, we ultimately decided to purchase a townhome and get a loan later when it was time to rebuild. Getting our daughters stable and feeling normal was our priority. We landed in a beautiful place called the Vintage at Ka’anapali, at the lowest part of the Ka’anapali Golf Estates. The location is perfect for Ka’anapali life.

If I can say one thing about my family, it’s that we make the most of our surroundings. We’ve come to really enjoy living in Ka’anapali, more than I care to admit. We have many good friends nearby, just a golf cart ride away for happy hour or sunset. Our friends were integral in helping life feel more normal, even if in the background it wasn’t. My daughters spend more time at Whaler’s Village than they do at home, even getting jobs at Sale Pepe’s latest restaurant, Via!, located in the food court.

The Process

Shortly after the fire, I learned one of my neighbor’s houses had miraculously survived. There was a small pod of homes that the fire seemed to have jumped over. Our neighbor, Jeremy, is an architect with Pili Design & Build. It was really important to me that he helped us. We weren’t particularly close before, but I knew he understood the magic of our neighborhood, Shark Pit. He had to walk by our house to get to the beach every day. Less than a month after the fire, I met him for coffee in Wailuku. We started talking about our plans and what we wanted—which was to rebuild our house, but better. Ultimately, I sketched out the floorplan of the house we lost, and he took it and ran with it. He’s been with us every step of the way. And whether he wants to or not, his neighbor (me!) is now his friend for life.

Jeremy was the first person who made me realize that we might be able to build our home sooner than we originally thought. Remember, my goal was to be back home before my oldest daughter went away to college. Time was ticking. The only thing we could do was be ready when they started issuing permits.

We were ready. I actually think it’s possible I was the first—or at least in the top ten—to be ready to submit plans for permits in Lahaina. Unfortunately, the County of Maui was not on my timeline, so we waited—not very patiently—for a few months with finished building plans. In July 2024, the expedited permitting office opened, but we waited to submit our permit because we had an additional hurdle to get through. My house was located in a Special Management Area, or SMA. Anything below the highway around the island falls into an SMA zone. The SMA is broken up into various areas—shoreline, historic, etc. We were waiting for the expedited SMA portal to open. In August 2024, it finally opened, and we submitted our plans—one year after the fire. Three more to go before college.

By October 2024, we still did not have our permits. Something seemed amiss. What was supposed to be an expedited turnaround time of two weeks was now almost three months. After many phone calls—and probably annoying many permitting office employees—we found out that the State Historic Preservation District (SHPD) would not expedite their portion of the SMA review. Gee, thanks. In fact, someone even told me they’d “get to it when they get to it.”

Here’s an important point: time is money. The longer it takes to get permits to rebuild, the more money is wasted on rent, mortgages for a home that no longer exists, and preparation to rebuild. The longer it takes, the closer people get to financial ruin. Why was SHPD not willing to expedite? It became evident that the number of permits was overwhelming the permitting office—they simply didn’t have the manpower to handle the Lahaina rebuild. We needed a miracle (again), and Governor Green came to the rescue. In the December Emergency Proclamation for the wildfire, he signed off that SMA approval was not needed anymore (unless you are on the shoreline). Hallelujah!

On December 13, 2025, we received our permits to rebuild our house—2.5 years before college. We had enlisted a friend, David Stoops, as our contractor. We’ve known him and his family for years, as our daughters are dear friends. We have raised our girls together, and now we were about to have another adventure together. This ultimately was one of the best decisions we made.

David has been a builder, framer, and contractor in West Maui for over 40 years. He had refurbished many Lahaina treasures, like the Lahaina Grill and Pioneer Inn. He has a deep love for Lahaina and a highly skilled crew that works for him, with incredible attention to detail. David generally builds one house at a time, allowing his focus to be in one place. As you can probably guess, we spoke to him soon after the fire and were ready to go the day the permits were given. Our house received its final approvals 8 months and 25 days after we received the permits—practically unheard of on Maui, especially now as many houses are stalled for various reasons.

At some point in the middle of the rebuild, we needed to secure a loan to complete it. This was our plan once we purchased our place at the Vintage. Unfortunately, my husband very sadly and unexpectedly lost his job as we were preparing for the loan. This period was probably one of the hardest my husband and I have ever navigated. Imagine getting this far and then not being able to finish. Needless to say, we figured it out—but it was certainly a second life-changing trauma in our lives.

This is Exciting, Right?

So here we are, one year and three-quarters of a year before college. We did it. We are moving back home in less than a week. That’s good, right? Oh my goodness—why does it feel so scary and not so exciting now that we are here? Well, we are one of the first to move back. That small pod of untouched houses has occupants, but we will be the second one rebuilt in our neighborhood. There is literally no one building directly around us, though luckily a lot of construction is happening in Shark Pit. This realization has recently smacked me in the face. We didn’t just lose our home. We lost our community and our way of life. I can only control one of those three things.

One thing I found weird and funny right after the fire: many people asked if we were going to rebuild where we were. First of all, that’s the land we own, so we couldn’t exactly build somewhere else. But why wouldn’t we build and go right back home? Why did people think I was weird to hurry up and build? I guess they realized something I was refusing to acknowledge: it’s not going to be the same. Did we make a mistake?

It’s been a roller coaster of emotions, which is not surprising if you look back over the past two-plus years. But the answer, I hope, is no—we did not make a mistake. Someone recently said to me, “Someone had to go first.” That was us. I am extremely grateful we’ve gotten to this point, and honestly, pretty proud of my family. We did it. And now, after trying to rush the past two years, I want to slow down the next two. Remember, college?

We are embracing being pioneers. It may be a little lonely in Shark Pit for the next few months or years, but every neighbor who comes back will have a welcoming committee in my family. I implore Maui County to please start allowing the town to come back and figure out the shoreline. None of us asked for this—there’s got to be a better way.

To our insurance broker, architect neighbor, contractor friend and his crew, Ka’anapali friends, Governor Green (although I have a bone to pick with you about other things—I’ll save that for another blog), Colette in the permit office, and the countless others who got us to this place: thank you doesn’t seem like enough. But I will say it wholeheartedly: thank you.

And to our neighbors in Shark Pit—we are waiting for you. See you at the beach.