'Good neighbors': Maui companies jump to aid island community after deadly brush fires
Maui's businesses like Privateer are running WiFi stations, bringing supplies to West Maui and planning for long-term recovery efforts. "That's our job right now is to be good neighbors and be good friends to those around us," Privateer CEO Alex Fielding told FOX Weather.
Locals in Maui helping provide immediate needs for fire survivors
Nearly 2 weeks after the deadly wildfires in Maui, nearly 1,000 people remain missing. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said the latest numbers are being reported by the corner and search crews. Maui locals are working to provide meals and relief to their neighbors.
Privateer Space was founded to solve problems in low-Earth orbit. But after Maui experienced the deadliest fires in 100 years, the company headquartered on the island is now focused on problems much closer to home.
Privateer is one of many businesses on the Hawaiian island of Maui helping its community pick up the pieces after deadly brush fires swept across the southern part of the island beginning on Aug. 8. More than 100 were killed, and hundreds remain missing as cadaver dogs search the burn areas for remains.
"We've been doing everything that we can to help kind of from day one," Privateer CEO Alex Fielding told FOX Weather. "When you live on an island - and we're all kind of on an island - we are each other's angels, and the only thing that we can do is count on our neighbors and friends to help us."
Privateer's headquarters are located on Kihei along Maalaea Bay. Further north on the island, is the historic Lahaina, Hawaii's first capital. Rebuilding the town which was wiped out by the fires will take years.
Even two weeks after the fire, communication on parts of the island is still down, including WiFi and cellphone service.
Maui companies, including Privateer and the Maui Economic Development Board, have set up mobile WiFi and charging stations in areas of the island still cut off from the rest of the world. SpaceX recently shipped 650 Starlink internet kits to the island, which will be distributed to nonprofits and organizations responding to the fires, adding more WiFi capability while communication infrastructure is repaired.
The stations are recognizable by the bright yellow signs and the people surrounding them on their phones. The stations have helped people reach out to family on the mainland, maybe for the first time. Eight charging stations using Starlink internet and operating 24 hours a day are receiving about 1,000 connections a day, Fielding said.
A charging and WiFi station in West Maui. Maui companies have teamed up to offer the stations for residents for as long as necessary. (Image credit: Alex Fielding/Privateer)
With West Maui closed from the rest of the island for two weeks, those operating the charging stations were driving in and out of the exclusion areas before the roads reopened. Fielding said the images on the news don't paint an accurate picture of the devastation.
"The smell of decomposing humans is what you smell, and the amount of just ash and debris and infrastructure down," Fielding said. "It's almost impossible to comprehend."
Neighbors helping neighbors
Privateer teamed up with other Maui businesses to form a nonprofit called the Makai Foundation to provide relief and resources after the fires. The Makai Foundation is a partnership between 10 companies, including Maui-based construction and building company Alpha Inc., Maui Brewing Co. and Kiawe Outdoor.
About half of Privateer's employees are based in Maui. For some survivors, if they didn't lose their homes, they might have lost their place of work. Fielding said for now, the companies involved in the Makai Foundation are telling their employees to be focused on recovery and helping their neighbors.
HAWAII PINEAPPLE FARM DONATES PINEAPPLES, DELIVERS SUPPLIES TO WILDFIRE SURVIVORS
"Your job right now is to be a first responder and a second responder and do anything you can to help your neighbors. We're going to go and resupply. We're going to continue to provide services and aid and do whatever we can," Fielding said. "That's our job right now is to be good neighbors and be good friends to those around us."
![A distribution site in Maui run by volunteers where residents can pick up food and supplies.]()
Image 1 of 11A distribution site in Maui run by volunteers where residents can pick up food and supplies. (Image credit: Alex Fielding/Privateer) ( )
![A charging and WiFi station in West Maui. Maui companies have teamed up to offer the stations for residents for as long as necessary. (Image credit: Alex Fielding/Privateer)]()
Image 2 of 11A charging and WiFi station in West Maui. Maui companies have teamed up to offer the stations for residents for as long as necessary. (Image credit: Alex Fielding/Privateer) ( )
![A charging and WiFi station in West Maui. Maui companies have teamed up to offer the stations for residents for as long as necessary. (Image credit: Alex Fielding/Privateer)]()
Image 3 of 11A charging and WiFi station in West Maui. Maui companies have teamed up to offer the stations for residents for as long as necessary. (Image credit: Alex Fielding/Privateer) ( )
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Image 4 of 11A charging and WiFi station in West Maui. Maui companies have teamed up to offer the stations for residents for as long as necessary. (Image credit: Alex Fielding/Privateer) ( )
![A sign is posted on the side of the road on August 16, 2023 in Olowalu, Hawaii.]()
Image 5 of 11A sign is posted on the side of the road on August 16, 2023 in Olowalu, Hawaii. Crews are continuing to search for missing people. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) ( )
![Delivering pineapples, water and supplies.]()
Image 6 of 11Delivering pineapples, water and supplies. (Maui Gold Pineapple)
![Maui residents John Rey Serrano and Lexie Lara look from a road above Lahaina Town in the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina, western Maui, Hawaii on August 11, 2023. A wildfire that left Lahaina in charred ruins has killed at least 67 people, authorities said on August 11, making it one of the deadliest disasters in the US state's history. Brushfires on Maui, fueled by high winds from Hurricane Dora passing to the south of Hawaii, broke out August 8 and rapidly engulfed Lahaina.]()
Image 7 of 11Maui residents John Rey Serrano and Lexie Lara look from a road above Lahaina Town in the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina, western Maui, Hawaii on August 11, 2023. A wildfire that left Lahaina in charred ruins has killed at least 67 people, authorities said on August 11, making it one of the deadliest disasters in the US state's history. Brushfires on Maui, fueled by high winds from Hurricane Dora passing to the south of Hawaii, broke out August 8 and rapidly engulfed Lahaina. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP)
![The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources shared images of destruction from wildfires in Kula, Hawaii.]()
Image 8 of 11The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources shared images of destruction from wildfires in Kula, Hawaii. (Hawaii DLNR)
![Burned houses and buildings are pictured in the aftermath of a wildfire, is seen in Lahaina, western Maui, Hawaii on August 12, 2023. Hawaii's Attorney General, Anne Lopez, said August 11, she was opening a probe into the handling of devastating wildfires that killed at least 80 people in the state this week, as criticism grows of the official response. The announcement and increased death toll came as residents of Lahaina were allowed back into the town for the first time.]()
Image 9 of 11Burned houses and buildings are pictured in the aftermath of a wildfire, is seen in Lahaina, western Maui, Hawaii on August 12, 2023. Hawaii's Attorney General, Anne Lopez, said August 11, she was opening a probe into the handling of devastating wildfires that killed at least 80 people in the state this week, as criticism grows of the official response. The announcement and increased death toll came as residents of Lahaina were allowed back into the town for the first time. (Yuki IWAMURA / AFP)
![An aerial image taken on August 10, 2023 shows a person walking past a destroyed car in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui in Lahaina, Hawaii. At least 36 people have died after a fast-moving wildfire turned Lahaina to ashes, officials said August 9, 2023 as visitors asked to leave the island of Maui found themselves stranded at the airport. The fires began burning early August 8, scorching thousands of acres and putting homes, businesses and 35,000 lives at risk on Maui, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said in a statement. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)]()
Image 10 of 11An aerial image taken on August 10, 2023 shows a person walking past a destroyed car in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP)
![A charred dock near Lahaina in Maui where U.S. National Guard Hawaii Pacific crews continue rescue operations from fires in Hawaii on Aug. 10, 2023. (]()
Image 11 of 11Flames roar near a dock in Lahaina where U.S. National Guard Hawaii Pacific crews continue rescue operations from fires in Hawaii on Aug. 10, 2023. (Image: USGS Hawaii Pacific/Twitter) (USGS)
Maui's businesses have jumped to help their community even as their employees and families are recovering from the fires.
Fielding said Alpha Construction and agriculture company Mahi Pono have been trucking in food, fuel and supplies to West Maui every day with help from Maui police escorts.
Maui Brewing Co. set up donation sites at its locations in Klhei on Maui and Kalua and Waikiki on Oahu.
FEMA PROGRAMS OFFER IMMEDIATE FUNDS, HOUSING ASSISTANCE FOR MAUI WILDFIRE SURVIVORS
Another fund called Legacy of Aloha was started to help Maui Brewing Co. and local restaurant employees who have been displaced and lost their belongings to the fires. After the fires, Maui Brewing Co. locations in Kahana and Ka'anapali in West Maui are closed until further notice.
'Total housing shortage'
Lahaina, Maui, Monday, August 14, 2023 - A view of destruction from Hwy 30 days after a fierce wildfire destroyed the town.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times / Getty Images)
As FEMA, National Guard and Red Cross resources have been deployed by the thousands in Maui; Fielding said it's the local response that will carry residents through in the long term.
The immediate goals of the Makai Foundation include basic needs: food, shelter and communication. In the long-term, Fielding said the foundation wants to help residents rebuild.
"We already had an affordable housing shortage; now we just have a total housing shortage," Fielding said.
Real estate investors and others have been offering to buy the scorched land when people's emotions run high. Fielding said some of the land has been in Hawaiian families for generations.
"Not only if you don't have insurance, could you never afford to rebuild. I mean, in Maui County, the average build cost here is like $350 a foot," Fielding said. "To rebuild here, it's very expensive, the permitting process is very long, and there are vultures descending on the island asking these families that can't afford to rebuild, 'Why don't you just sell your land?'"
The Makai Foundation and other local organizations will come up with a plan to make sure there are resources to keep Hawaiian lands in their hands to continue handing down for generations.