North Huntingdon native and friends escape Hawaii wildfires

Sue Leech Seiff was vacationing in Maui, Hawaii, when she looked out her window Aug. 8 and thought she saw a sandstorm.

High winds had been creating sandstorms and ocean funnels, also known as waterspouts — whirling columns of air and water mist — throughout that day.

As she came downstairs to tell her friends, some of their phones started going off with emergency evacuation alerts.

“That’s when we knew it wasn’t a sandstorm,” said Seiff, a North Huntingdon native who was visiting Hawaii for her 60th birthday.

She removed her sandals. She put on her Hoka running shoes, grabbed her phone and wallet and placed a few personal items in her backpack. She left behind her large suitcase.

“I thought I better put on my running shoes because we might need to ditch the car and go on foot since the roads had been closed off from downed power lines,” said Seiff. “I grabbed my phone, which had no signal at that time, and brought my wallet – I wanted to travel light. I had thoughts that we may even need to jump in the ocean. I learned later that many people had to be rescued from Lahaina because they jumped into the water to escape the fire. I keep reliving it. We’re lucky.”

She and nine girlfriends were able to make it out safely from the devastating massive wildfires across the island of Maui.

Just the day before, the group had spent the day shopping, strolling through Lahaina’s downtown historic beach town and attending a luau.

It all changed in an instant.

At 1 a.m. Aug. 8, loud wind gusts woke Seiff up. By 4 a.m., the power and Wi-Fi were out.

Winds were whirling at 80 mph, she said.

By 8 a.m., the first group of women left for the airport.

She was supposed to go home later that day.

At 10 a.m., she heard some roads were closed because of power lines being down, so she decided to see if Uber had rides so she could get to the airport, but she had no internet service and couldn’t connect.

She walked to the clubhouse of the beach house community to see if someone there could help her get a ride to the airport.

The clubhouse was closed because of the power outage. There was a handwritten sign on the door with a security guard’s phone number. She took a photo of the sign and walked back to the house.

She called her husband in Pittsburgh and asked him to book her a flight for the next day.

By 4 p.m., the high winds continued. With no power, the group decided to eat the food in the refrigerator and have some drinks.

Shortly after, she saw the black cloud.

“It was the scariest time,” Seiff said.

They grabbed essentials and piled in two rental cars and drove away from the smoke. She and the four remaining friends are all Pittsburgh natives. Two live here and three others out of state.

The group of friends from high school and college have been planning annual vacations for years. This was a longer trip because of the distance and the special milestone birthday — 60 years.

“We are all like sisters,” Seiff said. “I am so glad I have these women in my life. We had a whirlwind of incredible moments and beautiful sights for six days on Maui.”

She said they were just three-quarters of a mile south of Lahaina.

“We saw the smoke as a warning — so many others were not as fortunate,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking.”

As they drove away, the group spotted electric company workers on the road moving power lines out of the way.

They traveled about 2 miles and pulled off the road to devise a plan. A gust of wind knocked over a tree onto one of the cars, so they headed to a town called Kehei on the southern part of the island that still had power and cell service.

By 6 p.m., they found a place for dinner. They ordered food but were too shaken to eat anything.

There were no available hotel rooms or Airbnb rentals. They continued to the other side of the island and slept in the cars along with others in Costco, Safeway and Walmart parking lots near the airport.

Later that night, Seiff called the security number she had taken a photo of from the door of the beach clubhouse.

“A man actually answered, and I asked him about the status of the fire,” she said. “In a very shaky voice he said, ‘All of historic Lahaina was gone.’ I had to ask him to repeat it because I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I shared that news with my friends.”

They didn’t sleep much that night.

When Walmart opened Aug. 9, they headed inside to use the restroom, get snacks and buy clothes for the flight home.

Seiff said she continues to think about all the people on the island. She arrived at the airport on the morning of Aug. 9 to begin her journey home.

“The airport was a crazy mass of humanity of people trying to get on flights,” Seiff said.

Her flight was delayed but eventually took off at 10 p.m. and headed for San Francisco. When she landed, she found a restaurant in the airport called Mission and decided to wait there until her flight left for Pittsburgh.

“The TVs in the restaurant were on, and I started seeing early news reports about the destruction in Lahaina,” she said. “I started to sob at the table. The very friendly hostess asked if I was alright. I said I just flew here from Maui. She asked if she could hug me. She then asked where I was headed and when I said Pittsburgh, she hugged me again — turns out she was a Pittsburgh native — and said she was coming to town for the Steelers-49ers game in September. We exchanged numbers and plan to meet up. I felt like she was put there to help get me home.”

At 6:30 p.m., Seiff, who lives in Hampton, landed safely in Pittsburgh.