Waiehu, Hawaii CNN —Two days before the Maui inferno, Brenda Keau’s husband Tony called his mom for a chat. The elderly woman’s home in Lahaina is gone, destroyed in the wildfires that swept across the Hawaiian island last week. And I don’t like seeing him like that because my husband is strong, loving,” Keau said. So I’m talking for him.”Keau said she feared arson when she saw smoke rising from the hills of upcountry Maui, from her home in Waiehu, in the north of the island on August 8. Evelio Contreras/CNNInland from Keau’s home, in the upcountry hills where she saw the smoke, a wildfire is still only 60% contained.

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Persons: Brenda Keau’s, Tony, ” Keau, he’s, “, Evelio Contreras, ”, Keau, it’s, It’s, Kalopodes, Merrill Kalopodes, “ I’ve, ” Kalopodes Organizations: Hawaii CNN, CNN Investigations, CNN Inland, Maui County Fire Department, Volunteer, CNN Locations: Waiehu, Hawaii, Maui, Lahaina, upcountry Maui, Maui's upcountry, Maui County, Kula, Oahu