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“This is the worst disaster that Maui has ever faced, probably that Hawaii has ever faced,” says Maui native Kainoa Horcajo, a Hawaiian cultural advisor and the co-owner of consultancy The Mo’olelo Group. With the death toll reaching 111, and 1,000 people still unaccounted for amid the devastation and destruction, the Maui disaster is officially the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. since 1918. “Businesses come second. The people and the families are first,” says Horcajo. “We know a lot of people want to come out here. But we need to focus our resources on taking care of our local families, on making sure that our visitor industries, our hotels have the ability to help in the community. That we’re all working together.”

In the first few days after the fires swept through West Maui, largely destroying the town of Lahaina — a number of celebrities spoke out on social media to...

“They have called it the worst disaster that’s ever happened to Hawaii — but we’re all doing our best to keep everything moving forward and getting better for everybody. A lot of the upcountry got its ‘ōkole kicked, and Lahaina doesn’t really even exist anymore,” says Barry Rivers, the director of the Maui Film Festival, which he founded in 2000, on a phone call a few days after fires ripped through the island of Maui. The fire has destroyed the village of Lahaina and unleashed a death toll that now stands at 106 even as search efforts continue.

Amid the devastation, Rivers ­— like many in the community — has been busy lending a hand to help those affected by the disaster. “We’re just doing everything we can to make people’s lives better than they are at the moment,” shares Rivers. “The ohana [family] spirit is in the air for a...