As Lahaina burned, while homes, families and workplaces were destroyed, Jesse Kong desperately searched for a way out.
Kong, riding his dirt bike Tuesday, was turned around, again and again. The highway was on fire, so he went another direction, even though gas stations that could explode at any second were in the path. Paths near homes weren’t viable – the flames from the houses were too intense. All the while, debris flew, explosions rocked the area and the wind, intense throughout the day, battered him.
He was stopped when his bike got caught on a telephone wire. That’s when he heard the screams. People were trapped inside a car fully engulfed by flames. A traffic signal had fallen on the vehicle. He couldn’t get close.
“You can see their flesh burning,” he said. “There was nothing I could do.”
It was a nightmare. Fire trucks abandoned – one with its sirens and lights still on – just like the cars of people who fled while escaping the path of the fire. One fire truck was reduced to a smoldering shell. Homes, including his own – his wife’s family home four generations – in ruins.
“The flames were so (expletive) big and the heat was so radiant that if I got anywhere near it I would have been burned,” Kong said.
Earlier in the day, Kong battled to save his livelihood. He kept a level head, even though at the time he didn’t know if his house had already burned down. He knew his family was safe – it was the last phone call he received – but didn’t know if his dog had made it out alongside them.
“I don’t know if it was the way I was raised, but I know how to act under pressure,” he said. “I relied on common sense and knowing how to act under pressure – not panicking. There were things I couldn’t do at the moment, and I needed to be still. I have a lot of faith in God, and I knew that God was with me.”
Despite getting “sandblasted” with dirt, debris and smoke, Kong, owner of Kongcrete Pumping, struggled to keep Truth Excavation, where diesel oil was stored alongside his concrete pumps, from going up in smoke. He fought to keep the baseyard from suffering the same fate as a gas station he watched explode, sending heavy black smoke into the sky.
“The grass was already on fire. I found a bucket and started running it over to the diesel tanks and started throwing it on them. Every now and then, a gust of wind would come and even with my mask and goggles, I was getting sandblasted,” Kong said. “When the wind got strong, I would run and shelter in a big excavator on top of the mountain of dirt, in the enclosed cab.”
By the end of the day Tuesday, his once-green shirt was brown with smoke, soot and ash.
Thursday, Kong was able to assess the damage. A home of four generations: gone. His truck: destroyed. His community: shattered.
“It just looked like ruins, like bombs were shot across the way and houses were crumbling in rubble. That’s what it looked like,” he said.
But his dog was safe. The family pet had been with his wife, Ilima Kong, and their two children.
And, with help, he did manage to save the baseyard. Kimo Clark, the owner of Truth Excavation, told him so. “He gave me a big hug and said, “‘You saved the day, thank you so much.”
A Go Fund Me page has been established for Jesse Kong’s family.
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