Hawaiian Broadcaster Loses 4 Family Members In Maui Inferno

A Hawaiian broadcaster described the devastating loss of four relatives to the Maui wildfires as a “gut punch” in a heartbreaking moment live on-air this weekend – as the death toll in the horrific blazes nears 100.

Hawaiian News Now journalist Jonathan Masaki Shiroma revealed Saturday that four of his loved ones were among the 96 people confirmed to have died as they tried to flee the US’s deadliest wildfire in more than a century – and that he had at least one other relative still missing.

“It’s like a gut punch,” Shiroma told LiveNOW from FOX Saturday. 

“You hear the words of devastation, and then you realize that the hometown that, as a child, [you were] playing in the cane fields and near what was the Pioneer Mill, you know, and then the hearing that family members lost their lives as they tried to leave the flames that just engulfed so quickly, and one still remained missing – it becomes so personal,” he said.

The NY Post reports the Lahaina native and retired lieutenant colonel with the US Army has previously been sent to numerous fires while working with the California National Guard – and now must provide critical news-station updates as the wildfires ravage the historic Maui town of about 13,000 people.

“I’ve been on those wildfire coverages in California, and seeing the devastation that occurs and cities burned to the ground – there’s really no way to know how to respond in an emotional [way and, quite frankly, in any type of way, because it happened so fast,” he said.

“With the magnitude of what’s going on, everybody’s trying to make heads or tails of what to do next. And I believe slowly but surely that that is starting to happen,” he continued. “And it’s just beyond, I guess, the scope of what we can sometimes fathom of dealing with things.”