‘Phase Three’: Kula residents take charge as federal cleanup leaves burned trees and debris behind

Kyle Ellison brushed some of the dust off his flannel. “Kula is not clean,” he said through a microphone at a Kula Disaster Community Update Meeting on Jan. 23. 

“The [federal] contract covered the ash footprint of homes, but a lot was leftover,” Ellison said, citing the 7,000 pounds of scrap metal he and volunteers claimed to have removed between two Kula houses the week prior.

The Army Corps of Engineers, chosen to head up Kula and Lahaina’s cleanup efforts, completed its final phase of the federal wildfire response in Kula ahead of schedule last month, with their focus now shifting to West Maui.

The Phase 2 Consolidated Debris Removal Program that began in November 2023 coalesced in the cleanup of 25 Kula properties, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, including the removal of debris representing a threat to human health, the structural ash footprint of a dwelling, the removal of slab foundations, vehicles, hazardous trees and soil.

“The Army corps have their mandate on what they do and don’t cover,” Ellison said. “But if you had stuff in the yard, trees neighboring the property, if you owned a vacant lot that was next to a house that burned and all of the ash and debris from that house flew into the lot, you were not covered by that Army Corps Phase 2 debris-removal program.”

Ellison’s immediate solution to continuing the cleanup in upper Kula is a community-advised cleanup, with action now and funding later. 

During his final remarks at the Jan. 23 meeting in Kula, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen spoke extemporaneously. “There are a lot of heroes that go unnamed,” he said. “You see the ones in the uniforms––easy to pick out. But there are ones in flannel too, in t-shirts and shorts. We need this help.”

Cleaning up after Phase 2

A pack of burned, dead trees and stumps surrounded him and MEO-sponsored Niko Sena, a member of Ka ʻIke Mau Loa O Ke Kai HoHonu, at a Kula property on the day after the meeting.

“Stuff like this, which were not deemed dangerous, are still here,” said Ellison. “This is really more of an aesthetic, borderline psychological project we’re doing today, simply so that when you drive through this burn-effected neighborhood, it doesn’t look so burned. Because these trees are dead–they’re not coming back.”

In Ellison’s opinion, the importance of cleaning up the Kula community post federal response comes down to something as simple as this: “Visualizing what your new home is going to look like is easier when you don’t have burned trees on your property.”

Their efforts in Kula, with the help of thousands of individual volunteers, have involved debris removal, erosion control, household wipe tests, recycling (in response to increased water bottle use), watershed restoration and soil stabilization.

“There is no ‘phase three’,” Ellison said. “I just keep saying it as a soundbite to see if it can take off. But we want a phase three. It’s not just us in Kula. Lahaina should have a phase three. The island of Maui should have a phase three, which is simply to make sure we complete the job and get it done.”

A community-led effort

Ellison, 39, found himself thrust into the Kula disaster relief effort, trailblazing a community-led cleanup and response effort from week one.

“It was Aug. 12 when I called Kula Lodge,” Ellison said. “There was no formal, centralized Kula response yet. Everyone was still shell shocked and still trying to put out fires and DIY. Everyone was just doing their own thing. I called Kula Lodge and asked if we could start a little hub area. They said, ‘Ya, go for it.’ It just grew from there.”

Ellison described the scenes at Kula Lodge in its heyday: “200 people showing up a day with a line of trucks down Haleakalā Highway.” The Kula hub started as a place where fire-affected individuals could access fresh meals and clean water. It was supported by several donors, organizations and individuals.

It was not a coincidence that Ellison, a small-business owner and freelance writer, volunteered every day and paid contractors out of his own pocket to aid relief efforts for three months.

Starting on the night of the Aug. 8 fires, a friend rushed to Ellison’s upper-Kula home to carry out his family’s belongings. Ellison’s home was damaged, but his friend’s home, a recent remodel without an updated insurance policy, had burned to the ground by morning.

“When a fire starts in your backyard, you don’t just leave,” he said, standing on that very property that belongs to his friend, five months later.

Ellison stared out to his blemished, two-wheel, stock Tacoma sitting on the work site. “I’m a freelance writer for magazines like Maui No Ka Oi, Hana Hou magazine, and now I drive around and chainsaw burned trees and pickup people’s recycling on Friday’s,” he said humorously.

Since the Aug. 8 wildfire, Ellison and his three children and wife relocated 14 times due to property damage sustained in the fires. During that same time, he worked at over 50 properties in Kula, coordinating more than 2,000 individual volunteers from around the world.

“The coolest thing for me is that there wasn’t a single person who griped,” he said. “I was like, ‘I need you to go up to this person’s house and load up her old burned mattress and take it to the dump.’ And people just go, ‘Ok. I’m on it.’ On their own gas, pay the landfill fees out of their own pocket.”

Now, five months later, as people have returned to work, Ellison is still cleaning up parts of Kula and planning for the next phase of the cleanup, a community-advised effort backed by better funding.

Still ‘in the woods’

This past Tuesday marked the final Kula Disaster Community Update Meeting with the mayor. Rather than asking a specific question and requesting an answer, Ellison asked 12 questions “for the historical record.”

Between the plans to clean up the rest of Kula, taking care of the roads and parking lots damaged by the heavy equipment in the Phase 2 response, metal toxicity that still exists in some neighborhoods, Ellison’s takeaway from this final meeting was simple: “There’s still a lot to do.”

Ellison said that cleaning up neighborhoods is the urgent need for Kula, but his long-term vision is hazard mitigation. He hopes to provide programs and services to aid Kula through his aspiring nonprofit Mālama Kula.

Seeking volunteers

Ellison said one of the purposes of Mālama Kula is to connect people and organizations that want to help with the homeowners who need help. Mālama Kula organizes several community-based service projects each week, open to both locals and visitors who want to help the cleanup in Kula.

A group of 18 volunteers assisted Ellison this week at a home in upper Kula, spreading wood chips to stabilize a burned hillside on the property. The effort featured Kula residents, members of Praying Pelicans Missions from Texas and Wisconsin, members of ITOWN Church from Indiana, a local arborist, and a member of Ka ʻIke Mao Loa O Ke Kai HoHonu.

“I think it’s one thing to invest financially, but to invest the time and have the conversations–when you’re literally there holding hands and praying with somebody and figuring out how it’s impacted them–a receipt on giving can’t show that or display that,” said Austin Wimbley, a volunteer from ITOWN Church.

Mālama Kula has several cleanup events planned this month.

For those who are interested, Ellison recommended contacting him at MalamaKula@gmail.com and following his Instagram @MalamaKula to keep up with volunteer opportunities. More information can also be found on the MālamaKula website.