Hawaiian broadcaster reveals he's lost FOUR family members in fires
Harrowing moment Hawaiian TV broadcaster reveals he’s lost FOUR family members in Lahaina wildfires: ‘ Life can change in the blink of an eye’
- Jonathan Masaki Shiroma had been brought up on the island of Maui and has said he lost family members in the wildfires
- Shiroma described the news of losing his family as a ‘gut punch’, while a cousin of his still remains unaccounted for
- It comes after officials announced the death toll had grown to 93 over the weekend
This is the harrowing moment a Hawaiian TV broadcaster reveals he lost four family members in the Maui wildfires.
Jonathan Masaki Shiroma said the news of family members passing in the horrific wildfires had been a ‘gut punch’ with a cousin of his still unaccounted for.
Speaking to Fox Live Now, the broadcaster said that the news was heartbreaking and he would continue to pray for everyone on his home island of Maui.
Shiroma said: ‘It’s like a gut punch, you hear the words of devastation and then you realize that the home town as a child [you were] playing in the cane fields and near what was the Pioneer Mill.
‘Then hearing that family members lost their lives as they tried to leave the field plains that engulfed so quickly, with one still missing.’
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ci4nCPCzXG4%3Frel%3D0
Shiroma, who now lives in Honolulu, also recalled spending time on the island as a child
A resident looks around a charred apartment complex in the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina
‘It’s just heartbreaking, the prayers continue for everyone on Maui and Lahaiana as loss continues.’
Shiroma, who now lives in Honolulu, continued: ‘The people of Hawaii no matter what ethnicity you are, have such a sense of ohana.
‘Growing up on Maui, my grandparents have their roots in the very area that was destroyed.
‘When I look back as a child, it was a very simple plantation town. I remember running in the back yard of my great grandparents house and they had this huge mango tree and a fishpond.
‘The cousins, we would all get together, that’s [how] I remember my Maui. Enjoying the fact that we grew up on this beautiful island.’
In a post to his Instagram, Shiroma added: ‘My heart mourns today. Found out four family members have perished in the Lahaina fires. Please keep my Ohana in your prayers.
‘Tell people you love them, appreciate them, be kind. Life can change in the blink of an eye.
In a post to his Instagram, Shiroma also asked for his followers to keep his family in their prayers
This photo released by County of Maui on August 10 shows houses destroyed after the devastating wildfire
Officials have announced that the death toll on the island of Maui has now risen to 93, with rescue teams now tasked with picking through the areas left by the area for remains.
Teams have been marking homes with a bright orange X to record an initial search, and contacting HR when they discover human remains.
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said that crews with cadaver dogs had covered just 3 percent of the search area, with the death toll expected to rise again.
Pelletier said identifying the dead is extremely challenging because ‘we pick up the remains and they fall apart’
Kealani Maunakea Fernandez, from O’ahu, cries as she is embraced by Nani Peterson, from Maui, as a volunteer group of around 30 Hawaiians from O’ahu, are welcomed by Hawaiians from Lahaina
Pelletier said: ‘When we find our family and our friends, the remains that we’re finding is through a fire that melted metal.’
On Saturday, Governor Josh Green said that at least 2,200 buildings have been damaged or destroyed – of which 86 percent were residential.
Across the island, he added, damage is estimated at close to 6 billion US dollars, Green said it will take ‘an incredible amount of time’ to recover.
The newly released death toll passed that of the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California, which left 85 dead and destroyed the town of Paradise making them the deadliest in modern US history.
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