A reporter expected a ghost town. She found inspiration.
Imagine driving to the place where you grew up. You've always known it to look one way. But rather than seeing what you imagine in your memories, you see nothing out your window. The place is Maui, and it has been destroyed by a deadly wildfire that raged with unprecedented speed and force, leaving a community destroyed.
This was the reality for Ellen Domingo, a Seattle-based family medicine physician who grew up in Lahaina, the historic Hawaii town razed by the Aug. 8 wildfire that has claimed more than 100 lives and desolated more than 2,000 structures. Upon landing in Maui, Paste BN breaking news reporter N'dea Yancey-Bragg met Domingo at the airport as the doctor hauled boxes of supplies from the mainland. It was one of the many memorable encounters Yancey-Bragg had during her reporting trip to Maui to cover the aftermath of the wildfire for Paste BN.
Domingo offered to drive Yancey-Bragg and Paste BN photographer Sandy Hooper two days later to her hometown on her way to deliver the supplies.
As the skeletal remains of burned buildings and ashen cars came into view, she wept.
"We were with her when she saw Lahaina for the first time. It was really emotional," Yancey-Bragg said. "Just to see the impact it has on people in Hawaii, and even others coming in from the mainland."
👋 Hello − Nicole Fallert here, and welcome to Your Week, our newsletter exclusively for Paste BN subscribers (that's you!). This week, we talk with Yancey-Bragg about her powerful reporting from the scene in Maui.
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Dispatches from a reporter on the ground in Maui
When Yancey-Bragg went on assignment to Maui, she expected a "ghost town." But what she saw surprised her: people who lost their homes coming together at community hubs to gather information and distribute donations. Amid a crisis, life was, in fact, everywhere.
"I had never seen anything like that before," Yancey-Bragg said. As much as it was "heartbreaking," she said, it was inspiring to see people taking action in a moment of need.
She wasn't sure what to write about at first, so she "let the reporting guide her" and was surprised how eager residents were to share their stories. She got a deeper look at a crisis situation she never could imagined have from her home in Virginia. There, she could report only what officials said, not what people on the ground were experiencing.
Yancey-Bragg learned of the difficulty residents were having returning to their homes to asses damage as authorities closed down the burn zone. She heard them talk about the need for mental health resources. And, in a surprising observation to her, she caught on to developers approaching people about buying their properties − trying to profit on their pain.
Paste BN having a reporter at the scene "makes all the difference," Yancey-Bragg said. "It had been impossible to talk to people on the ground because they had no [cellular] service. I wouldn't have known about the community effort and why people wanted to stay in Lahaina. I wouldn't have gotten the feel for why they love their community."
More Maui news from Paste BN
- A family of four. A beloved sister. An uncle whose 'smile stood out': These are some of the lives lost in Maui wildfires.
- How did the wildfires start in Maui? A combination of factors fueled the disaster.
- 'I was crying hysterically': Maui residents search for missing pets after deadly fires.
- Tourists sleep in cars and scramble to flee as residents ask them to ''leave Maui.''
- Amid the devastating Maui wildfires, a vacationing Denver pilot stepped in to fly hundreds home.
- Firefighters in Hawaii fought to save homes while their own houses burned to the ground.
Thank you
The effort to rebuild Maui will take time. If you are wondering how to donate or volunteer to support the community, click here. Thank you for supporting our journalism with your subscription. Our work wouldn't be possible without you.
Best wishes,
Nicole Fallert