LAHAINA — The phrase “home for the holidays” has special meaning for the Ah Hee ohana — Mau, Ariel and their two sons Manaiakalani, 6, and 3-year-old Kaiakea — who have an opportunity to spend Thanksgiving in their newly rebuilt home on Komo Mai Street in Lahaina.
The family lost their home 15 months ago in the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire and are the first West Maui residents to replace a residence destroyed by the inferno that killed at least 102 people and claimed roughly 3,500 homes, more than 800 businesses and other structures including schools, churches and government buildings.
“We had to move six or seven times after the fire,” Ariel Ah Hee said Friday during a blessing held after the 1,200-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home passed its final inspection. “It’s a blessing to finally be home. I have a long list of people to thank — all the people who volunteered to help, all the people who donated to us, and to the whole community of Lahaina, we wouldn’t be here without you.
“Thank you beyond words.”
The Ah Hees, who first moved into the home in 2019, helped construct it twice in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Maui, which builds homes on a no-profit basis and zero-interest financing, with low-income families providing their own “sweat equity” in the project.
“A lot of people get jobs to get a home, but we had to work for it more than the average person,” Ariel Ah Hee said. “We built this home with our own hands twice, and we helped build other Habitat homes in our neighborhood.”
Matt Bachman, Habitat for Humanity Maui executive director, said the nonprofit organization started building on Komo Mai Street in 2017, and by 2020 had dedicated 10 homes there.
“We helped to rebuild this house and we already know that six of the nine that are left are going to rebuild,” he said. “Two others are not emotionally ready to come back, and there’s one other that is not going to go with Habitat.”
According to Bachman, Habitat’s Komo Mai Street homes were in the newest subdivision in Lahaina before the fire.
“A lot of the infrastructure that was here made it through the fire. Sewer was still here, water was still here, the power was underground so the infrastructure was such that this was going to probably be the first place to rebuild,” he said.
Derrick Montalvo, Mau Ah Hee’s uncle and owner of the D.A. Montalvo construction company, which rebuilt the Ah Hee home, said outside of newer developments, rebuilding efforts in Lahaina have been challenged by everything from the financial constraints of property owners to government regulations for special areas such as the town’s historic district and nearshore parcels.
As of Friday morning, the county’s Recovery Permit Center has issued more than 254 building permits, and more than 120 homes were being rebuilt in fire-affected areas in Lahaina, where about 2,200 properties were destroyed, and in Kula, where a separate Upcountry wildfire destroyed 19 homes on the same day as the Lahaina fire.
Stefanie Nakasone-Ramsey, public information officer for the Maui County Office of Recovery, said the county is reviewing an additional 264 residential construction permit applications under an expedited process for fire survivors.
Nakasone-Ramsey said the properties that are under construction and those that have been permitted or are under review represent about 15% to 25% of the estimated number of affected residential structures.
The county still is working to streamline permit requirements and procedures that have complicated rebuilding in sensitive areas.
Bachman, who was an integral part of the Ah Hees’ rebuilding process, said Habitat for Humanity is launching another resource Monday that is expected to help 50 or 60 families address post-fire financing gaps.
He said the organization has raised $7 million and received $3 million from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to stand up a Disaster Recovery Program that will offer $100,000 bridge loans to families affected by the disaster and have an income that is 100% or below the area median income.
Families who obtain the financing and stay in their homes for 10 years will receive loan forgiveness, explained Bachman.
“Rebuilding this home was a nice feat for this family, but we have to work together to rebuild more Lahaina homes. I want to see it in my lifetime,” said Montalvo, who postponed retirement plans to help rebuild his beloved Lahaina.
Montalvo, who was the athletic director at Lahainaluna High School and coached football before he opened his construction company, pointed to the Lahainaluna “L” carved into the hillside above the town as a reminder of the power of community.
“You see that ‘L’? I don’t care where you are standing, every year at graduation there will be people looking there and singing,” he said. “This community comes together. It’s who we are.”
Jennifer Gray Thompson, founder and CEO of After the Fire USA, who went through the massive wildfire in October 2017 that devastated the California North Bay counties of Sonoma, Napa, Lake and Mendocino, has been serving as a resource for Maui County. She said in a statement, “Witnessing the first completed rebuild in Lahaina is a huge accomplishment and milestone for the entire community. The Maui megafire is the most complicated disaster I’ve ever worked on, and the progress is greater than expected at this juncture.
“Our hearts and congratulations are with the Ah Hee family. It is a gift and responsibility to be the first light after a very dark and difficult period.”
Gray Thompson has said that it is unusual for mega-fire communities like Lahaina to see cleanup and rebuilding happening at the same time.
Bissen, who was present at the Ah Hee home blessing, said, “I am deeply grateful that this milestone is occurring sooner than we ever anticipated. It is a testament to the spirit of resiliency that has been evident in Lahaina and the dedicated work of many, including our federal and community partners, as well as the unwavering commitment of our community. Together, we have shown that with unity and determination, we can exceed our expectations.”
Ariel Ah Hee said she was determined to get back home, but the six-month pace — two months of permitting and about four of rebuilding — surprised even her.
“I had no idea it was going to be this fast,” she said. “I was thinking at least two to three years. The fact that we’re here before Thanksgiving was wild. We just kept asking for help and all these people were helping us. There are so many resources out there.”
Kumu Kapono‘ai Molitau, director of the county Office of ‘Oiwi Resources, who presided over the Hawaiian blessing, likened the family and their journey back home to the pioneering journeys of their ancestors, including Mau Ah Hee’s father, Abraham “Snake” Ah Hee, one of the original crew members of the Hokule‘a voyaging canoe.
“Those names are very important to this day,” Molitau said. “We look at this home as a hoku-paa, as a north star, that when everybody drives by, it’s a beacon of hope, the beacon of a reminder that there is new growth.”
Star-Advertiser reporter Andrew Gomes contributed to this story.