In our continuing coverage of the Maui wildfires, 23ABC spoke with a Bakersfield man who has spent the last several days taking in residents of Lahaina and sheltering them in his apartment just outside the island town. 23ABC's Veronica Morley spoke with Bakersfield native and Centennial High School graduate Chris Huston about how important the people of Maui are to him.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 continue our coverage of the Maui wildfires. One Bakersfield man has spent the last several
00:04 days taking in residents of Lahaina, sheltering them in his apartment just outside of the
00:08 historic island town. 23 ABC's Veronica Morley spoke with him about what they're experiencing
00:13 on the ground level. Bakersfield native and Centennial High School graduate Chris Houston
00:19 moved to Maui about a year ago and he says it's been one of the best years of his life.
00:24 But now his island paradise has turned to ashes due to the devastating wildfires and
00:30 now he's doing everything he can to help the community he loves. These are the most important
00:35 people I've met in a long time and they have nothing, like everything is gone. Chris Houston
00:40 works at Captain Jack's Bar and Restaurant in the Lahaina Wharf. That was my group, that
00:44 was my social group, those were my co-workers and friends. Houston saying he was off work
00:48 and at home when he learned from a friend about the fires. There's a couple cool things
00:53 going around to try and locate people. There's a Google Doc going around where people, you
00:57 know, they'll put in a name of missing and then if anybody has seen or confirmed that
01:01 they're found and they mark it down. But there's a couple people that are still unaccountable
01:06 from our social group. Houston says it was three days before he heard from his best friend
01:11 in Lahaina and another two of his friends were unable to contact him because they lost
01:16 their phones when they jumped into the ocean to escape the flames. You've got people that
01:21 are safe that nobody, nobody knows and you know, you start going a couple days of not
01:28 hearing from somebody and knowing that there's thousands of, you know, over a thousand people
01:34 missing, it's a struggle. But there is still hope. When they arrive at our shelter here,
01:39 they register the shelter into the shelter. It's all computer system here so we know who
01:44 is who and where is where. I would say that most of the people here in our shelter have
01:48 lost everything. Bakersfield Red Cross volunteers will be on the ground in Maui assisting with
01:53 recovery efforts for the next three weeks. There's some tearful moments but I can tell
01:57 you that everywhere I talk to is like, thank you, thank you for Red Cross. Meantime, Houston
02:02 has been taking in residents from Lahaina and offering shelter in his own home. I'm
02:07 blessed to have this place and I, this isn't like a weekend storm. It's going to be a long
02:13 process. So I've already signed up and told people you can stay here for weeks, months,
02:18 whatever it's going to take. And he feels the love from his hometown. I've had people
02:22 back home ordering things at Target and we go pick them up and so, just a huge thanks
02:28 to everybody back home. And if you'd like to help Houston with his efforts in Maui,
02:32 we have a link to contact him on this story on our website, TurnTo23.com. For 23 ABC News,
02:38 I'm Veronica Morley, connecting you.