Losses from West Maui fire approach an estimated $6 billion, Hawaii governor says

Family members of Mike Cicchino believed he was going to die after he called them to say goodbye while fighting for his life in the Maui wildfires this week. He has since been reunited with his loved ones after a night he says was “something out of a disaster movie.”

After seeing the flames on Tuesday, the Lahaina resident and his wife grabbed five dogs they were taking care of and followed traffic heading south until they were trapped by closed roads.

“People were running for their lives in all directions because nobody knew where to go,” Cicchino told CNN. “We were surrounded by fire.”

During that time, Cicchino believed they were going to die, so he called his mom for a final goodbye.

“I called to tell her I love her and to please take care of my daughter,” who was with her mother at the time, Cicchino told CNN. “The last thing I said was, ‘This is where I’m at, I’m jumping in the water, and I don’t know if I’m going to make it.’”

Moments after that call, phone service dropped, and Cicchino lost all contact for several hours.

Meanwhile, his mom, Susan Ramos, had immediately called the US Coast Guard to alert them of the fire and her son’s location. 

While waiting on his own rescue, Cicchino was shepherding others to safety as his home of 16 years was consumed by fire. 

“I remember jumping the seawall and putting our shirts into the water to wrap around our faces and protect us from the smoke. Out in the ocean we kept getting hit by the embers, so we would hide underwater,” Cicchino said.

Nearly 60 other people were down in the water, filled with panic as they heard cars exploding nearby. 

Despite his eyes being nearly swollen shut by smoke, Cicchino left his wife in a safe space to go look for the dogs that got separated from them along the way. 

“While running down Front Street and calling out for the dogs, I heard people begging for help. I saw a couple dead bodies and checked their chests to see if they were breathing, but then had to move on to other people I could actually help,” Cicchino told CNN.

As Cicchino was moving people to safety by rocks right off the water, the Coast Guard contacted him asking for a headcount for life vests.

The Coast Guard boat couldn’t make it past a reef, leaving two members with surfboards to attempt the rescue of dozens, including children, the elderly and the injured.

The group panicked at the thought of having to go one by one and risk being separated from their loved ones. Eventually, firefighters made it to the scene, with Cicchino leading people 10 at a time to their rescue. 

On the last trip, Cicchino, his wife and two of the dogs settled in the bed of an emergency vehicle as firefighters sped off to a local triage center. 

Cicchino was hooked up to oxygen and was coughing up soot from smoke inhalation.

As things calmed down, he was able to get back in touch with his mom. They cried together on the phone. “All this time my mom thought I was dead,” Cicchino said.

He was reunited with his family at a nearby shelter just a few hours later. “I ran toward my mom and broke down as she hugged me,” he said.

Cicchino said he still has friends who are missing and that so far, four of the five dogs he evacuated with have been reunited with their owners.