Las Vegas man from Lahaina lost family childhood home in devastating Maui wildfires

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - One impact of the devastating wildfires in Maui is that many people have lost their homes.

Maui’s police chief said 75% of the hardest-hit areas have not yet been searched. Governor Josh Green said work is underway to transition residents out of evacuation shelters and into hotels and vacation rentals. He also said about 2,000 housing units have been secured. 400 of 750 power poles in west Maui have been damaged or destroyed.

Matthew Erickson grew up in Lahaina and moved to Las Vegas 10 years ago. His father, sister, nieces and nephews, 10 people total, live in his sister’s home—one that the family has had in the old Lahaina town area for over 30 years.

Erickson said they lost everything in the fire.

When it broke out, they all had to evacuate, leaving them displaced, staying on different parts of the island with other family members. The beloved house he and his sisters grew up in did not survive.

“I helped raise my nieces and nephews in that house, and then to see they were beginning to raise their families in that house,” said Erickson. “It was kind of at the corner of a cul-de-sac and every New Year’s we would throw the biggest parties out there and so there are lots of memories, and I am just so hopeful that we can get it at some point and turn time back to that glory.”

Erickson said his family hasn’t been cleared to return back to the area yet, but they do plan to rebuild.