'You could see red from the fires': B.C. traveller recounts harrowing escape from Maui wildfire
'It's really hard knowing all those places are gone now,' said Richmond, B.C., resident Olivia Hung
As she looked out the window, Olivia Hung saw the fire coming.
The resident of Richmond, B.C. — just south of Vancouver — had been visiting friends in Lahaina, Maui, when the power went out on Tuesday. There was no running water, and cell service had been cut.
But no one had told them to evacuate.
"The whole sky was smoke," she told B.C. Today host Michelle Eliot during an emotional interview on Thursday.
"You could see red from the fires."
The fire she could see was the massive wildfire that has devastated much of Maui and killed at least 53 people, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which destroyed the town of Paradise and killed at least 85.
Strong winds and dry conditions fanned the flames of the rapidly-spreading fire, which broke out on Tuesday, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate at a moment's notice.
Hung says police came to her friends' home to tell them to leave. Strong winds had damaged the front door, so they had to evacuate through the window.
They drove to a nearby community, where they were able to stay with other friends of friends. Not everyone was so lucky — Hung says many people just pulled over to the side of the road, waiting for information about what to do and where to go.
"They had nowhere to go, they could only sit at the side of the road and wait," she said.
"There were power lines that were down, we had to drive over one. We were really scared."
Her original flight home, scheduled for Wednesday, was cancelled. She spent hundreds of dollars to rebook on another flight out, she says, which brought her home on Thursday morning.
"I didn't want to be on the island taking up resources," she said.
She says she's relieved to be home, and is exhausted from the experience.
"I'm glad I still have a home to go to, because my friends, their house burned down.
"I'm looking through my vacation pictures … it's really hard knowing all those places are gone now. It's never going to be the same."
Travel advisory, flight cancellations
Many flights between Vancouver and Maui were cancelled on Wednesday, including Hung's original flight home.
Global Affairs Canada is advising people against non-essential travel to Maui.
"Global Affairs is not aware of any Canadians who have been killed or injured as a result of these wildfires," the federal department said in a statement.
Vancouver-based travel consultant McKenzie McMillan says airlines are trying to get tourists off the island, and Air Canada is using larger aircraft to bring more people home.
"While other islands are open, Maui is closed," he said.
He says anyone with a trip planned for Maui in the next week should call airlines and hotels for information about their reservations.
For those on Maui looking to get off the island, he suggests they head to the airport to get up-to-date information from staff on site.
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With files from B.C. Today and The Associated Press