Hoʻōla Maui clean-up work begins in Kula

The first day of fieldwork for the Hoʻōla Maui team began on Friday, Oct. 20 with an early morning blessing in the crisp Kula air. Hoʻōla Maui workers, Roman Corpuz and Rex Lokeni, opened the ceremony by blowing pū.

Kumu Hula Cody Pueo Pata and Kumu Hula Mehanaokalā Hind of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA) led the protocol to begin this next phase of work, an important first step in the recovery of this Upcountry Maui community. They gathered together at Kula Park just below the Kula Fire Station, a five minute drive from the neighborhood where wildfires destroyed homes on August 8. 

COL Jesse Curry and leadership from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, along with their prime contractors, participated in the cultural protocol: DAWSON on behalf of Hoʻōla Maui for the site assessment and debris removal; AEPAC for cultural monitoring, together with the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA), Nā ʻAikāne o Maui, and ʻĀina Archeology. The work crews participated as well, solemn in their kuleana and deeply grateful to be participating in the clean-up. 

Once the protocol concluded, crews conducted their first daily safety briefing, then drove to the burned homes to begin the work. They quickly accomplished their first assigned task: marking properties with signage to designate them as work sites and providing guidance to the crews that will come behind them in the coming week for detailed site assessments.  

Kula resident Mark Ross owns the property that was first in line for work this morning. He shared his story from the night of the fire, explaining how he watched as a spark grew to a fast-moving fire that burned through the nearby ravine and quickly grew out of control until it consumed his property. He thanked the crew for coming, and asked the Hoʻōla Maui team, “Since my home was the first with a stake in the ground in Kula for this phase of work, will it be the first to be cleaned up? I’m ready to rebuild.”