The Fires of Maui and Tennessee
By Ally Kennedy
The night of August 8, 2023, is a night that Hawaii and the rest of the world will never forget. This horrific day signifies the start of the Maui fires. These fires destroyed much of the beautiful island. While nobody truly knows what caused the fires, many factors enhanced their deadly path. Before the fires started, the island was facing drought-like conditions. Hurricane Dora, a category four storm, caused sixty to eighty-mile-per-hour winds on the island, which, combined with the drought-like conditions worsened the fire conditions. Once the fires began to spread, the people of Maui had to evacuate. Although many did not want to leave their homes behind, for their safety. they had to. When the fires finally ended. Maui was deeply affected. The island lost nearly two thousand acres of land and hundreds of lives.
Although The University of the Cumberlands is on the other side of the United States, the region still feels the effects of the fire. Faculty members and students have loved ones who are from the beautiful island, with some people having family members allected. The citizens of Williamsburg, Kentucky, are no strangers to the repercussions of fire. The small town is only two hours from The Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, where multiple wildfires occurred within the past decade. On November 28. 2016, the Gatlinburg. Tennessee mountains caught fire. There had been a severe drought along with powerful winds, which, unfortunately, caused the fires to become uncontrolled. With sixty miles-per-hour winds, trees fell on powerlines, causing more fires to begin. The high winds caused the fire to spread throughout the surrounding counties, leading to many evacuations.
The University of the Cumberlands is home to students from around the world, like Caroline Boles. Boles is a freshman from Sevierville. Tennessee. Having lived amidst the 2016 wildfire. Boles knows what being near such a horrific scene is like. While interviewing Boles, she mentioned that she has hiked up the mountains many times and even showed pictures of what it looked like after the fire. Boles noted that the flames were visible from her house, but she did not have to evacuate. When asked if she feared the recent 2022 fires would become as bad as the 2016 fires, she responded. “You do not expect it to escalate as much as it does.” For someone who saw all the destruction from the 2016 fires. it is only natural to worry that it could happen again.
While there are significant differences between the mountains of Appalachia and the island of Maui, disasters can unite all. Despite being thousands of miles apart, individuals throughout Appalachia can empathize with the people of Maui. Fires ruin land, people lose everything they have, and then something magical happens; they rebuild. The land will never be the same, but the people remain steadfast so that new things blossom. Here in the Appalachian Mountains, everyone saw the destruction in Tennessee. Nobody knew how the towns surrounding The Great Smoky Mountains would heal, and although it took time, they did recover. Maui will, too.
