As is my usual modus operandi on Sundays I write about individuals who are heroes. With the recent tragic Lahaina, Maui fire, I am sure that there were many truly heroic individuals. Here are just two examples.
Jubee Bedoya lived in Lahaina. I say ‘lived’ because he lost everything in that tragic Maui fire. Jubee had made it to the beach where he ran into a vacationing family of seven from Fresno. However, the high wind was pushing the fire toward them, and it became apparent that they would not survive there. Jubee Bedoya urged the family to follow him into the water where they were all able to latch onto a drifting piece of plywood which then became a makeshift life raft for the group. They all clung to the plywood, with the family’s two-year-old son tightly holding Jubee’s neck. “It was crazy,” Bedoya told a reporter. For more than two hours they floated in the sea with the fire raging, until a Coast Guard rescue boat was finally able to reach them.
Like most residents of Lahaina, Jubee has lost everything, but he was happy to learn that the family had safely reached Fresno. “Give them my love, tell them I am so happy they are safe and have made it home,” he told a family relative.
From Aleteia:
As Benny Reinicke was fleeing from the fire, he encountered two women in trouble. Lani Williams and her mom, Sincerity Mirkovich, had tried to escape the wildfire in their car, but traffic had been gridlocked. Their only recourse was to try and make it to the Pacific Ocean as burning embers fell all around them.
Unfortunately, Lani’s mother had limited mobility and needed a walker. When they finally reached a seawall, it was clear that Sincerity Mirkovich would not be able to make it over the wall to safety. That’s when a stranger (Reinicke) came to their rescue.
“Auntie, put your weight on me. I got you,” he told the elderly woman. Reinicke carried Sincerity Mirkovich over the seawall on his back. He then remained with the mother and daughter in the ocean for more than eight hours until it was safe.
The two women only learned the name of their rescuer when they were reunited with him on Good Morning America.
8/27/23