as the world watched lahaina burn, calgary chef paul mcgreevy and his family had a live view from across the bay.
they had just driven back to their hotel in wailea from the historic city when the gravity of the situation began to sink in.
“it’s devastating,” said the calgary celebrity chef and current instructor at sait. “i mean, i’m on the outside. i can’t even imagine what those people are going through. it’s heartbreaking.”
mcgreevy, his wife, cindy, and children, owen and lilly, were in hawaii for their first major summer holiday in years. paul had visited once with his family when he was about 10 and wanted to share the experience with his children.
they flew into maui from the island of kauai on tuesday, the day before they were to fly home, and drove to lahaina, one of paul’s favourite memories from his trip many years ago.
as they pulled into the community, there were no signs of the fire that would wreak havoc hours later. they drove down its famous front street, lined with artisanal shops, restaurants and galleries, but everything was closed as the power went out on the city.
an aerial view of the damage in lahaina.
patrick t. fallon/afp via getty images
they returned to their hotel and turned on the tv to discover what the rest of the world was learning about.
as they looked out their hotel window, they could see flames on the other side of the bay.