'Devastating'

COEUR d’ALENE — After more than two weeks as part of the recovery mission on Maui, Cody Moore and Chad Matchell returned home Saturday.

Both Coeur d’Alene firefighters used one word to describe what they saw in Lahaina: “Devastating.”

Up close, it’s worse than what the pictures have shown on television.

“It was brutal what ended up happening there,” Matchell said. “The fire burned fast and it burned hot. Devastating is the word. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Moore, with 10-year-old yellow lab Murphy, and Matchell, with Scout, another older yellow lab, were among the K-9 units sent to Lahaina through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Their mission was to help search an estimated 3,000 buildings destroyed in the fire that started Aug. 8 near the small town and quickly swept through it, killing at least 115 people.

There have been about 140 search and rescue team members deployed to Lahaina.

Moore and Matchell are both part of Idaho Disaster Dogs, an urban search and rescue organization. They left home Aug. 10.

Matchell recalled the morning phone call asking if he could go.

Absolutely.

“Just like that, you drop everything,” Matchell said.

Moore said there was no time to plan as he left his family to reach Maui.

“Everything changes,” he said. “It’s kind of what you’re trained for.”

Because the yellow labs are trained for rescue missions such as collapsed buildings rather than recovery, they were not deployed in Lahaina. But their handlers still worked closely with Maui police and fire over 12-hour days in hot, humid conditions.

Wearing protective gear, they performed visual searches, evaluating and checking the town by assigned grid, acting as spotters for other K-9 units. They looked for human remains and investigated areas where dogs alerted.

The men said they could not discuss specifics of what they found.

While they didn’t talk to many residents as most were not allowed in the search areas, what interaction they had made it clear Lahaina was a strong community, Moore said.

“The way they support each other on the island is second to none,” he said.

Back home, the men had a 72-hour rest window, and Wednesday they were still trying to process everything they did and saw.

Both had mixed emotions when it was time to leave Lahaina. They were proud to carry out a difficult assignment and grateful for the opportunity to help and perhaps even bring closure to families that lost loved ones in the blaze.

“We do this so other people don’t have to,” Matchell said.

But at the same time, they left knowing the road to recovery for the people left behind was going to be long.

Matchell said the transition from the devastation in Lahaina to the comforts of home was “weird.”

“It’s hard to describe,” he said. “It’s not going to hit yet. It’s going hit later on.”

Moore said many lost everything.

“It’s hard to go over there and see how much they have left to do,” he said.

The men said they don’t expect to return to Maui, as other FEMA response teams will rotate in as needed.

Both praised their employers for supporting their mission and being sure they had time to decompress before returning to work.

Coeur d'Alene Fire Department Chief Tom Greif said that praise goes both ways. The city of Coeur d'Alene and the fire department are proud of very proud of Moore and Matchell for their difficult deployment, he said.

"We always have to thank not only our handlers and their dogs but most of all, their families as deploying for two weeks at a moments notice impacts them in a huge way," Greif said. "We are very fortunate to work for a city that has always supported our department when providing services to communities outside of ours, whether it’s for wildland fires, avalanches, technical rescues or natural disasters like this most recent deployment."

The expenses for the firefighters' mission to Maui were paid for by FEMA.

Moore said when they arrived in Lahaina, they didn’t know what they would be walking into. When they found out, they had to collect their thoughts and focus.

“There's an adjustment period when walking into something like that,” he said. “You’re retraining your mind.”

Matchell faced a similar situation when he responded to the Holiday Farm Fire in 2020 in Eugene, Ore.

While that blaze destroyed about 750 homes, damaged or destroyed 500 other structures and burned 173,000 acres, it didn’t reach the “sheer magnitude” of destruction of Lahaina, he said.

“There’s nothing to prepare you for this,” Matchell said. “There's no way to prepare for it, mentally.”