- The fire in Lahaina occurred a year ago.
- The city’s iconic banyan tree was badly damaged.
- Experts are working to ensure the animal’s survival.
The iconic Lahaina banyan tree is still alive, a year after it was nearly destroyed in the devastating wildfire that wiped out most of the town.
“We call it something like a phoenix rising from the ashes,” Maui County Arborist Tim Griffith said in an interview Wednesday.
Initial reports on the health of the 150-year-old tree following the fire in early August 2023 were not good.
“People on the internet are saying, ‘Oh my gosh, the tree is gone, the tree is dead,'” Griffith said.
Then he saw a drone video.
“In the drone footage, you could still see the canopy, although it was now brown instead of green. That immediately gave me hope that there was still something there,” Griffith said.
He and others have been caring for the tree ever since and monitoring its growth.
“So after three weeks we had this growth,” he said. “Another week later we had about a dozen new shoots. The week after that there were probably about 100.”
Maui County Arborist Tim Griffith speaks to the media in front of the historic Banyan tree in the Lahaina wildfire area on August 2, 2024 in Lahaina, Hawaii.
(Mario Tama/Getty Images)
They have trimmed back the most damaged parts of the tree and loosened the soil around its trunk so that the tree can absorb more water.
They have planted parts of it in pots and plan to transplant “mini banyans” around the original tree in the hope that they will all form another giant tree canopy.
“Almost 60 percent of the original footprint is still there and has green shoots,” Griffith said.
It will likely take at least another 20 years for the tree to fully recover.
“It’s just a great symbol that if this tree can survive and come back, the community can do the same,” Griffith said.
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(Tim Griffith was interviewed by weather.com editors/producers Dan Wright and Andrea Rainone.)
Reporter from Weather.com Jan Childs covers breaking news and features on weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.
