The two say they’re in shock over the loss
Lahaina, Hawaii– A former Butte County couple lost their business in the Maui wildfires.
Charlie Osborn and Darice McGuire are life partners and lived in both Paradise and Chico before moving to Lahaina in 2011.
Osborn is a photographer with skills in restoring and preserving photos that are hundreds of years old, and McGuire is a talented, prolific artist.
They said the devastation of these fires are bringing back the same feelings they watched news about the Camp Fire ripping through Paradise.
“You know this is like a redo of the campfire,” said Osborn.
It had only been a few days since the fire started when they found out they lost their business.
“You just start thinking about all the stuff you just lost. I mean we lost a business, we lost all my photography. We lost all of Darice’s art. I had about 130 years of family photos, documents, history, we lost all that. I had an antique camera collection lost all that. Old Hawaii memorabilia lost all that. something I inherited through my grandmother, photographs from the 20’s and early 30’s it was a prized collection for me, it’s all gone,” said Osborn.
They say they’re still in shock over the loss.
“You know it’s the business and it has lots of equipment, lost all that, but all that stuff can be replaced. It’s the stuff that can’t be replaced that… It hasn’t quite hit us yet. Yeah. We’ve been trying not to focus on that because uhm There’s so much we have to do to move forward. Yeah,” the couple said.
And they said the lost history doesn’t stop in their photos.
“One thing that’s really, really sad about Lahaina is that is was established in the early 1800’s and there’s soo much history and building that were built in 1830 and its gone and it’s like you can bring that back. It’s just really really sad. It’s just shocking,” they said.
The two said there’s been an outpouring of support from both inside and outside the community trying to help with relief efforts.
The couple said they’ve been trying to call loved ones to let them know they’re okay but it’s been difficult with a lack of power and cell service in the area.