Survivor clings to plywood in ocean to escape Maui blaze. ‘We were trapped’

As flames engulfed Maui homes in a deadly blaze, lifelong resident Jubee Bedoya had nowhere else to go.

“We were trapped,” Bedoya told KNBC. “There was nothing we could do. That fire and wind just came so fast. There was nothing anybody could do.”

The lifelong Lahaina resident dashed for the Pacific Ocean for shelter from the flames, he told “Today.”

As Bedoya ran past vehicles stopped in traffic, a father visiting Hawaii handed him his 2-year-old son and the family of five joined him in the ocean, he told KNBC.

“When you’re in that situation of life and death, you don’t care who’s around,” Bedoya told the station. “You just want to try to help anybody.”

The family and Bedoya spent hours clinging to a piece of plywood in the ocean as Lahaina burned, he told “Today.”

“As we were in the water, we heard people screaming,” Bedoya said. They were among several others who also escaped the blaze by fleeing into the ocean and were later rescued.

“The current was pulling us out,” Mike Cicchino told “Today.” “You can’t see anything. At one point, we have fire on us, and we don’t know where land is.”

The death toll from the devastating Maui wildfires stands at 96 as of Aug. 14, but searches continue, The Washington Post reported. It is the nation’s most lethal fire in the past 50 years.

More than 2,700 structures with an estimated value of $5.6 billion were destroyed in historic Lahaina, CBS News reported.

Hawaii officials warned tourists to stay away from Maui as hotel rooms are needed to house survivors, the Associated Press reported.

“Everybody has their story, and everybody lost something,” J.P. Mayoga told the publication. “So everybody can be there for each other, and they understand what’s going on in each other’s lives.”

This story was originally published August 14, 2023 at 8:32 AM with the headline "Survivor clings to plywood in ocean to escape Maui blaze. ‘We were trapped’."