After deadly fires, Lahaina residents fight for control of their home

LAHAINA, Hawaii (NewsNation) — Surfing legend Archie Kalepa has a worry: First comes tragedy, then comes the vultures.

It’s been more than two weeks since wildfires ravaged his hometown of Lahaina. The official death toll stands at 115, but officials have warned that figure is likely to rise. Search teams are still digging through the almost apocalyptic hellscape in search of hundreds still missing.

And that is just the beginning. The Maui wildfires displaced thousands of residents.

While the tragedy remains raw, there is a rising concern among locals that developers may try to take advantage of the disaster to snatch up their properties. Lahaina survivors who lost their homes say they’ve already been approached by realtors. But Kalepa, who made his mark in the surfing world, is stepping up to ward off outsiders from preying on the lands belonging to displaced residents.

“Most importantly is what’s going to happen here. How are we going to rebuild and not displace people who spent a big portion of their life here?” Kalepa said.

Kalepa, born and raised in Maui, has established a reputation for being the ultimate waterman: A big-wave surfer turned lifeguard who regularly braved up to 80-foot waves at Maui’s world-famous surf break, Jaws.

In the early 2000s, Kalepa gained notoriety as one of the pioneers of tow-in-surfing, a technique that incorporates jet skis equipped with rescue sleds to defy Mother Nature and surf waves deemed impossible. Kalepa spent more than 30 years as a member and eventual leader of Maui Ocean Rescue and Safety.

Kalepa, a ninth generation Lahaina native is not afraid when it comes to big waves nor taking on those who see this tragedy as a money grab, pledging to “keep Hawaiian lands in Hawaiian hands.”

Officials previously estimated about 80% of the historic seaside town had been decimated. Around 2,200 structures – most of them residential – were damaged or destroyed by the fires.

“We cannot make hasty decisions and allow developers freewill without permits and without environmental impact studies to say ‘we have this place, we can develop it, let us do it,’” Kalepa said, adding, “that is a no-no.”

Even before the blazes ripped through the island, Hawaii had the highest cost of living in the United States. Maui residents were struggling with a chronic housing shortage on top of steep prices. The median sale price of a Lahaina home is roughly $1.2 million, putting a single-family home out of reach for many residents.

One thing that kept many natives rooted in the land was the house they owned in neighborhoods that are part of the “Hawaiian Home Lands” program. It allows those who come from Hawaiian descent (50% or more) to purchase homes on designated lands at reasonable prices.

“There’s a lot of emotions,” Kalepa said. “But we just have to stay strong for the rest of the people… and have real discussions about some of the hardships that we are going to have to go through to get our people back on their lands.”

“And when I say our people, I mean the ones that lived there,” Kalepa clarified.

“We need to sit down and have real discussions with hearts of aloha on how we are going to rebuild this place. Not hearts of greed, not hearts of relocating, but hearts of coming home,” Kalepa concluded.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) has said he’s aware of predatory investors reaching out to homeowners affected by the fires, exploring the idea of imposing a moratorium on sales of damaged or destroyed properties. “You would be pretty poorly informed if you try to steal land from our people and then build here,” he warned.

President Joe Biden made it clear in a recent news conference that he’s directed his team to do everything it can to help Maui recover and rebuild “in a way that respects and honors Hawaiian traditions and cultures and the needs of the local community.”

“We’re not going to turn this into a new land grab. We’re not trying to see multimillion-dollar homes on the beach. We want to restore that part of the island like it was before,” the president said.