Former Metro Detroit woman's Hawaii trip ends with terrifying evacuation during wildfires

FOX 2 (WJBK) - A Metro Detroit native says she and her husband were in Hawaii for a celebration that turned to chaos from the devastating fires.

"People were jumping in oceans to try to save themselves, people were being burned alive in cars, the devastation is, I’m having nightmares because of it," said Shari Atwell.

Atwell and her husband Greg were in Maui for her birthday. The trip started last Saturday. Everything was good until Monday morning. The wildfires’ deadly path caught up with them.

"About 5 o’clock in the morning my husband said, the power went out," Shari said. "And being from Michigan, Pontiac area, you figure a day or two, everything would be fine."

But things quickly took a turn. The search for food started from their 12th floor hotel room in Kaanapali, a resort area in west Maui just a few miles north of Lahaina, which saw the brunt of the burn.

"We were having to cook all of our meals on the barbecue grill on propane, and we had to wait in long lines for food," she said.

The food ran out as fast as clean water, leaving the island overflowing with fear. It was time to get out.

United Airlines sent in loads of supplies, emptied them and then picked up people to get them to safety. 

Shari is back home in Tennessee where she lives now.  She has one fear.  Developers will come into Lahaina and build condos and hotels, displacing the natives.

"I pray that they don’t do that," she said. "Because if they do, it will leave everybody there without homes, they’ll be homeless because they can’t afford to live in something like that."