Peter O’Riordan has recalled the “hysterical” phone call he received from his family, as the Maui wildfires destroyed everything they own.
The former Xposé presenter has lived on the Hawaiian island with his family since 2016, but was away in Chicago when he learned of the devastating blaze.
The wildfires have so far claimed the lives of 96 people, with many still reported missing.
This what left of my children’s home ….. pic.twitter.com/09VnAKSozu
— Pete the Treat (@PeterORIordan1) August 12, 2023
Speaking on Morning Ireland today, Peter recalled the moment he found out about the wildfires, and revealed locals had no prior warning to the disaster.
“I was lying in my bed in my hotel and I received a phone call from the mother of my children and I was awoken to this hysterical screaming,” he said.
“As you can imagine, I was completely taken aback – I wasn’t even awake yet. It was the mother of my children, Stephanie, just hysterically screaming: ‘It’s gone. It’s all gone. We’re leaving, we’re out of here. I have the kids.’
“I was just woken up to the screaming pandemonium on the phone with the children just screaming on the phone: ‘It’s gone. It’s all gone. All the memories, everything we have, it’s gone. It’s gone’.”
The Cork native had to quickly return home to help his family, which was a struggle after flights were shut down.
But he thankfully managed to get a flight back to Maui to reunite with his children the next day, and he’s now assisting with rescue missions in the area.
“We have a catamaran company so the boats were being utilised for rescuing people, for bringing supplies and people in and out that evening,” he said.
“The next day, we loaded up supplies and we headed into Lahaina town. All we saw was just absolute devastation and destruction that is absolutely unimaginable.”
Ariel of my place and neighbourhood……🥲🥲🥲 pic.twitter.com/9d3wlkPMgJ
— Pete the Treat (@PeterORIordan1) August 12, 2023
“It was as if someone literally dropped a bomb on the west side of Maui and everything has been absolutely obliterated. I’m talking dust, cars, buildings… there’s things I don’t really want to talk about but (there was) death, destruction everywhere.”
The father-of-two said it’s “devastating” to think about the amount of children who may have died in the wildfires.
“Our siren system failed us. These people had no warning whatsoever that this was coming,” he explained.
“It happened so quickly that they were absolutely destroyed in their houses. These kids didn’t even know it was coming and before it was too late, people were just vaporised.”
