Massachusetts

This Maui firefighter from Mass. lost his house in the blazes. Now he's fundraising for others

Firefighter Aaron Griffith, who grew up in New Bedford and graduated from UMass Dartmouth, started the Maui Firefighter and Family Relief Fund to help his fellow brothers and sisters.

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Firefighter Aaron Griffith, who grew up in New Bedford and graduated from UMass Dartmouth, started the Maui Firefighter and Family Relief Fund to help his fellow brothers and sisters.

After fighting on the front lines of what has become the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history, one firefighter in Maui County, who is originally from Massachusetts, is stepping up to help his department.

“This was apocalyptic,” firefighter Aaron Griffith explained of the Lahaina fire. “To watch this happen and be so close to it, it’s something no one had ever seen before. It’s nothing you can train for.”

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Griffith, who grew up in New Bedford, Mass., and graduated from UMASS Dartmouth, said the fight to douse the flames quickly became futile.

“We got right to getting into homes, removing people and helping them to safety. And as the fire progressed, the conditions just got worse. You were surrounded by fire. It was literally like what you would imagine walking through hell to be," he said.

"It’s a very tightknit community so to watch all of that be engulfed in flames and just hopping from one building to another, it was this fight that just felt impossible. And then there was a certain point in the night when we just ran out of water,” he added.

Photos: Deadly Wildfires Devastate Maui's West End

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Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

The iconic Banyan tree stands among the rubble of burned buildings on Aug. 11, 2023, days after a catastrophic wildfire swept through the city.

Griffith said of the 18 firefighters living in Lahaina, 17 of them, including himself, lost their homes. It’s why he started the Maui Firefighter and Family Relief Fund, to help his fellow brothers and sisters.

Griffith told NBC10 Boston that he was renting on Maui and has no children, but that his colleagues are not in the same position.

“I think for my fellow firefighters, their road to recovery is going to be a lot more difficult,” he said. “This is a way to directly impact those who have been affected by this disaster. Those that were putting out other people’s homes, protecting the public while theirs burned.”

Aaron Griffith, a firefighter in Maui, originally from New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Aaron Griffith, a firefighter in Maui, originally from New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Griffith's family on the South Coast of Massachusetts is also selling T-shirts and hats to help raise money for the Lahaina Fire Station, as those who lost everything learn what it means to start from the ground up.

“If you want to impact this tragedy directly and help a group of people that I think are more than deserving, please, please donate to this cause.”

When it comes to donating, choosing trusted, well-known charities should be a priority, Hawaii Attorney General Anne Lopez recently said in response to the tragedy. It's important to make sure you donate to reputable organizations.

To help with the immediate response, the Red Cross and Salvation Army are the prominent organizations on the ground right now, Gulliver-Garcia noted.

Click here for more on helping Maui fire victims

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