Lessons From a Trauma Care Nurse Evacuated From the Maui Wildfires

A pediatric trauma nurse spends time every summer in Maui with her family. This year, they were caught in the middle of the wildfires, which destroyed the historic town of Lahaina.

Brittney Bunnell, RN, CNS, spends her days at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford overseeing the Pediatric Trauma Program, which involves coordinating care and working closely with Santa Clara County’s Office of Emergency Management. Recently, she had to put her training into use as she experienced a traumatic event of her own.

Seven months pregnant, Bunnell headed out with her family on their annual trip to Maui. She’s been going ever since she was born.

“My mom often says that I learned how to roll over in Maui,” she said.

Their family has a strong connection to the island—they’ve made friends with many of the business owners, whom they look forward to reuniting with every year. Every year, they stay at a hotel timeshare about a mile and a half north of Lahaina. The only way in and out of the hotel is through the historic town, where wildfires ripped through during their stay.

Cut off from the world for four days

On Tuesday, August 8, Bunnel and the rest of those on the island woke up without power, due to Hurricane Dora. That afternoon, as the winds whipped, she noticed smoke and flames south of their hotel. With no electricity, no cell phone service (the cell tower burned in the fire), and nowhere to go, Bunnel leaped into action.

“We had no idea how long this power outage would last,” Bunnell said. “We had some food and water we got from Costco, so I immediately started thinking about how we could ration it. And I had to make sure I had enough nutrition for myself and the baby.”

On top of that, she was traveling with her niece and nephew, ages 8 and 11. Every night, she huddled in the hallway with her parents, sister, brother-in-law, and husband while the kids were in the room. “We discussed how we were going to manage their mental traumas, how we could make them feel safe, and planned out routines for each day to help give the kids a sense of normalcy,” she said.

That was where Bunnell’s leadership as a trauma program manager came in—they decided on several plans, which some of the other guests picked up.

One was to create a buddy system if they had to go outside at night, so that someone would always know where their buddy was and be able to communicate to others if there was an emergency, as they couldn’t use their cell phones.

“Since it was so dark, the hotel found glow sticks that we could use,” she said. “We were worried about my niece, who is the youngest, getting lost, so we taped a glow stick on her back to keep track of where she was.”

Finally, Bunnell prepared for the worst.

“I asked the front desk what their evacuation plan was, to understand what we would need to do if the fire moved toward us, but they couldn’t give me a straight answer and eventually told me that one version of the plan was to go into the ocean,” she recalled. “Having a plan is crucial because it can prevent injuries and save lives by getting people to safety in an efficient way.”

On Friday, she and the other guests got the news that they were being evacuated. As they rode on the buses toward the airport, the driver warned them that they had to go through the remains of Lahaina.

“It was absolutely heartbreaking,” she said. “We were cut off from everything, and that was the first thing we saw. It was the first time we understood what truly happened.”

Lessons learned

After going through this experience, Bunnell said there are items she will take with her on every trip from now on:

Flashlight

Portable power banks

Extra medicine

First aid kit

While she and her family are still processing what happened, Bunnell wants the focus to be on the affected communities.

“The locals, who are so kind and gracious, lost everything,” she said. “Our friends in Maui lost their homes, their businesses. It upended their lives. I can’t even imagine the emotional toll this is taking on them. It’s our turn to support them as they have a long and difficult road ahead.”