Lahaina wildfire aftermath: Residents rebuild and heal as Maui tourism struggles
The Aug. 8, 2023, blaze destroyed historic Lahaina and thousands of Maui homes, severely impacting Hawaii's tourism industry.
A year after wildfires tore through Lahaina, Hawaii, restauranteur Qiana Di Bari is still packing up trash bags, each filled with smoke-damaged belongings, and carrying them out of her home one at a time in a painstaking effort to rebuild.
It's a ritual that continues to play out across west Maui after the Aug. 8 fires killed at least 102 people and destroyed the former capital of the kingdom of Hawaii.
The home Di Bari shares with her husband, Italian-born Michele, and their daughter, 13, was one of only four on their street to survive the inferno, she said.
Di Bari is one of thousands of residents attempting to rebuild her home and business amid a flurry of instability.
NBC News spoke with a dozen people affected by the fire and each described experiencing an unrelenting cycle of housing and job insecurity that has compounded their trauma.
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