Flames were everywhere and Ana Carolina Penedo had a decision to make. She could stay in her car and hope that the line of vehicles attempting to flee Lahaina would miraculously start to move, or she and her mother could run.
The fire ravaging the former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom was consuming everything in sight: shops and historic buildings, a beloved 150-year-old banyan tree. Outside the car, embers landed on people trying to evacuate on foot. It became clear to Penedo, 42, that there was only one safe place in reach – the ocean.
