Maui wildfires: Kittanning couple trapped in car for 3 days shares harrowing experiences
FORD CITY, Pa. (KDKA) — As deadly wildfires tore through Hawaii, one family from Armstrong County nearly ran into the flames and was trapped for several days in their rental car.
On Aug. 4, Denise and Dan Dunn finally made it to Hawaii to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary.
"I couldn't believe that we were actually there," Denise said. "It was like somebody pinch me, I'm dreaming."
The couple from Kittanning was supposed to go in 2022, but they canceled after Dan's cancer returned. So, anticipation was high.
"We were both very excited," Denise said.
The trip started in Oahu. Thousands of miles away in Ford City, their daughter, Emily, was taking in all the photos.
"I haven't seen them that happy in a long time," she said.
On Aug. 7, they arrived in Maui. On Aug. 8, they woke up to no power at their hotel, but they continued on and went exploring.
The Dunns were headed back to the hotel to go to the beach when they saw a dark plume fill the sky.
"I saw this big wall of black smoke," Denise said. "I told my husband and said, 'That doesn't look good.'"
A police officer stopped and warned them of a massive brush fire. They were about 10 miles away from the hotel and a half mile from the flames.
It wasn't long before Denise sent Emily a text saying, "May need to sleep in the car tonight."
"I remember just freezing in shock," Emily said.
The Dunns tried to get out on a dangerous and narrow backroad with rocks on one side and cliffs on the other, but first responders dedicated it to evacuations. Eventually, they stopped in a parking lot by a gas station with a fast-food restaurant and a bathroom.
"We called the travel agent. She couldn't get us out any faster than Saturday," Denise said.
For three days, they stayed in the rental car less than a mile from the fire. On Friday morning, they tried the backroad one more time and got through. They grabbed their belongings at the resort and took off for a hotel by the airport.
"It was going to be happy to see them when they came back from vacation anyways, but to see them coming back from something like this, is just going to be probably the happiest minute of my life," Emily said.
At the moment, the Dunns are grateful, but they said they won't feel entirely relieved until they step their feet on Pittsburgh soil.
"I can't wait to hold my girls in my arms and give my son and my daughter-in-law a big hug and kiss, and know that everything is fine. The way it's supposed to be," Denise said.
The Dunns are that much more thankful they were running behind schedule Tuesday or else they would have been in the exact spot in Lahaina where the fires broke out.