A family from California hails the Lahaian hero who guided them into the water and let them float on plywood for three hours as a wildfire killed at least 110 people.
Last week, as Jubee Bedoya from Lahaina ran towards the water to flee the fires, he came across a family of seven from Fresno, California, who had perished.
The family’s two-year-old boy clung to Bedoya’s neck for two to three hours while they floated on plywood after Bedoya instructed them to accompany him and leap into the sea.
The Coast Guard eventually saved all eight, and the Californian family went back to their house: Former homeowner Bedoya expresses gratitude for the opportunity to assist.
A Hawaiian man who led a family of seven from California to the sea and cheered them while they floated together for two hours during last week’s wildfires has expressed his delight at finding the family survived the ordeal without suffering serious harm.
Jubee Bedoya, a resident of Lahaina, claimed to have been racing in the direction of the ocean when he spotted the Fresno family with their five children.
Speaking to NBC 4 News, Bedoya stated, “As the fire got closer, there was a family — a couple from California.”
There were five of them.
The two-year-old was given to me by the father, and for almost two hours after that, I held him close to my neck in my arms for two to three hours spent swimming.
It was also wild.
Amazing video depicts the eight individuals floating in the water while clinging to a piece of plywood that had blown into the water as the flames tore through the shore.
Therefore, the mother didn’t want to enter, Bedoya stated.
“The husband grabbed her,” it says.
The Coast Guard eventually pulled all eight of them from the water.
The husband’s sister, Dao Phonxaylinkham, expressed gratitude to Bedoya for saving the family even though they are currently in California and not yet ready to talk about the horrors of their experience in public.
The husband said to his sister that they felt ‘powerless’ and that it was terrible.
You can’t see people die that way, he continued.
Bedoya, a lifelong resident of Lahaina who has since lost his house, expressed his extreme relief in learning that they had survived to Phonxaylinkham.
Bedoya said to her, “I’m so glad to hear they made it out.”
“Your tiny nephew was holding on to my neck so tightly.
He was in such fear.
I’m so relieved they survived.
According to Phonxaylinkham, the young kid informed her that Bedoya had saved him.
He remembered that, she continued.
I questioned your assistance.
Did you feel safe, I asked? Yeah, strong like my dad, he responded.
Give them my love, and let them know how relieved I am that they are safe and have returned home, Bedoya instructed her.
Even though the death toll on Maui reached 110 on Wednesday, locals were still making an effort to maintain some sort of normalcy.
There were early signs of recovery when public schools began the process of reopening and traffic on a major road resumed.
Keith Hayashi, administrator of the Hawaii Department of Education, said that at least three schools in Lahaina, where entire communities were reduced to ash, are still being evaluated after suffering wind damage.
Although there is still much work to be done, Hayashi stated in a video update that the campuses and classrooms are generally in good structural shape.
We continue to mourn the numerous lives lost even though we are aware that the recovery effort is still in its early phases.
Crews also assessed the purity of the air and water while cleaning up ash and debris from schools.
According to Hayashi, displaced students who enroll at those universities have access to resources including meals and counseling.
Counseling services are also provided by the education department to workers, family members, and students.
Although the source of the fire is still unknown, Hawaiian Electric is being sued for failing to turn off the power in the face of tinder-dry conditions and hurricane tailwinds.
The head of the island’s emergency organization claimed he had “no regrets” over the lack of sirens to alert residents to the approaching flames.
The administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, Herman Andaya, defended the decision not to blast the sirens during the fire.
He used the Hawaiian directional phrase that might signify toward the mountains or inland, “We were afraid that people would have gone mauka,” to describe his concern.
If that were the case, they would have entered the fire, the speaker said.
In the highlands, where the fire was advancing downward, there are no sirens.
After a tsunami in 1946 that claimed more than 150 lives, Hawaii built what it claims is the largest system of outdoor alarm sirens in the world.
They have never been used to warn about wildfires, according to Andaya, and are primarily intended to warn about tsunamis.
According to the siren system’s website, they might be used to warn of fires.
Along with the choice not to use sirens, state and municipal officials have come under fire from the public for the chaotic evacuation that left many people trapped in their cars on a congested route as flames rushed over them and for the lack of water available to fight the fire.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell described the opening of the agency’s first disaster recovery center on Maui as “an important first step” in helping locals learn about available relief.
They can visit there as well to get updates on aid applications.Criswell announced that she would travel with President Joe Biden on Monday to assess the damage and “bring hope.”
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