Born in the Philippines, Manny, 52, and Claire, 47, had lived in the hillside village of Kuhua Camp for 20 years with their extended family.
The Ceraldes, who spoke to NBC News in a series of interviews in English and in their native Tagalog through a translator, said they had started permitted renovations on their house on Aki Street in 2022 to add two apartments. One was intended to be a rental property, and the other was for Claire’s mother, Revelina Tomboc, and her sister, Bibiana “Bhing” Lutriana, 58, who both had lived with the family for more than a decade.
Manny said he and Claire were thrilled when an affordable rental opened up less than three blocks away. That way, Tomboc could live comfortably during the construction and still visit her grandchildren every day and watch Korean soap operas with Claire.
That Tuesday morning in August, Manny and Claire didn’t worry as winds whipped the neighborhood and knocked the power out. They’d weathered heavy storms before. Claire crept out of the house around 6 a.m., careful not to wake her family, before driving 10 minutes north to a Ka’anapali hotel, where she worked as a cashier.
Around noon, Manny stepped out of Safeway market after finishing his shift as a wine merchandiser. He saw dark plumes gathering above his neighborhood off Lahainaluna Road, a main thoroughfare.
He assumed the fire was under control as he drove home to rest before leaving for his second job. Manny heard sirens in the distance but did not see any fire trucks. “I had peace of mind. I trusted them,” he said later of the firefighters.
Still, Manny packed cash savings and rare coin collectibles into a backpack and set it next to him in case of an evacuation. He lay down on his living room couch around 2:30 p.m.
About the same time, a few blocks away, Vanessa Keau pulled up to a home on Mela Street to check on her 83-year-old mother, Gwendolyn Kanani Puou. Keau went inside her mom’s house, but no one was there. She went…
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