SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Some San Diegans with loved ones in Maui are working quickly to help them in this desperate time.
Several people told ABC 10News they were struggling to keep up with friends and family on the island as wildfires raged.
Video that Audrey Wakefield got from her friend on Maui showed black smoke billowing right next to her house in Lahaina.
"And six minutes later, I got a text message that she was evacuating," said Wakefield.
She continued, “It was just unreal, like I get goosebumps just thinking about it because I was downplaying it and I didn't think it was going to be that big of a deal. I thought it was just wind."
Wakefield's friend, Cindy, and her boyfriend have now lost everything. Not only have the places where they work burned down, but so did their home as fires ripped through the busiest part of Maui.
"She's so far away and I just feel so helpless, which is why I started a GoFundMe for her because they left with just the clothes on their back and they only had time to grab the dog,” Wakefield said.
"It's like a movie. It's crazy, really," said Hannah Lebron, who owns a beauty spa in San Diego, but her roots go back to Honolulu, and she has family and friends in Maui.
"One of our friends, he drove back into Lahaina and he has seen people on the side of the road. He doesn't know if they're passed out or dead. You know, he saw people like jumping into the ocean to just get away from the fire, so it's really bad like the whole part of the island is gone," said Lebron.
To help support the people in Lahaina, Lebron is donating a portion of her profits to several organizations with boots on the ground in Maui.
Both she and Wakefield encourage people to give what they can, keeping people like Cindy in mind.
"She worked so hard to get to Hawaii and for her to lose everything it just. It just breaks my heart," Wakefield said of her friend.
The GoFundMe established by Wakefield for her friend can be found here.
