Both national and international organizations are recognizing Coast Guard and civilian mariners who responded to the deadly 2023 Lahaina fire for heroism at sea.
The International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency that regulates and oversees transportation on the sea, last month presented five Coast Guard responders and four good Samaritans with letters of commendation for bravery. One of them, Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Marzilli, also was selected by the USO as its Service Member of the Year.
The awards were presented at an Oct. 18 ceremony at the J. Walter Cameron Center in Wailuku. During the ceremony the Coast Guard also honored 26 local boat captains and crew members who responded aboard the vessels Trilogy II, Marjorie Ann, Reef Explorer and Ali‘i Nui and an Expeditions dinghy with letters of appreciation. Coast Guard Lt. Dylan McCall received a commendation medal for his service during the incident.
Marzilli earlier this year received the Coast Guard Medal, the service’s highest award for peacetime bravery, for his actions on Aug. 8, 2023.
“For awhile it was kind of like a few people just getting the recognition,” Marzilli told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “But I’m glad that they’re finally getting more people the recognition that they deserve for their actions as well, not just mine.”
Among the other recipients of recognition were Crissy Lovitt and her wife Emma Nelson, who along with fellow Maui resident Lashawna Garnier commandeered the Expeditions dinghy to join other civilian crews assisting personnel from Coast Guard Station Maui to save Lahaina residents who fled into the water to escape the flames that engulfed the town.
“It’s a small-town community, and the odds were that we knew people in there — and we did know people in there,” Lovitt said. “So it felt good to just know that we stepped forward to help the people in our community.”
Intense winds on Aug. 8, 2023, not only spread the flames more quickly than normal, they also made it too dangerous for helicopters to fly.
As the blaze consumed Lahaina, the Coast Guard received requests for help. But as Coast Guard Sector Honolulu’s commanding officer Capt. Aja Kirksey rallied her team, she soon realized she wasn’t able to dispatch air support and most of her cutters were more than eight hours away from the unfolding disaster. Instead, the Coast Guard would have to rely on small Maui-based crews and the handful of small boats they had.
The service put out a call asking for any mariners who were able to assist. Those who answered the call joined Coast Guard personnel as they navigated heavy wind, thick smoke and floating debris in Lahaina Harbor, coordinated by radio to look for survivors and fish them out of the water, and rescued people who were stranded along the shore.
Marzilli and Travis DeWater, a rescue swimmer on board the Trilogy II, went into the water themselves with surfboards, paddling toward the harbor. In the announcement of the awards, the International Maritime Organization described how the pair, with the help of the Expeditions dinghy, “directly contributed to the safety and survival of more than 40 people trapped by the fire.”
Overall, the makeshift flotilla of rescuers saved 17 people in the harbor and rescued 40 survivors along the shore.
Kirksey wrote in her letter to Lovitt, “I cannot express the immense admiration and appreciation my team and I felt when you answered the call to help us save lives amidst treacherous conditions. You fearlessly navigated through dense smoke and intense flames to aid our response efforts … . The decision to put yourself in harm’s way, it was not just a contribution to our mission, it was a lifeline for those who had lost everything.”
Lovitt and Nelson, who were getting ready to start running whale-watching tours, were forced to commandeer the Expeditions vessel because their own boats had been destroyed.
“We basically had just started our business and lost it all,” Lovitt said.
But with the help of friends, family and donations from those who heard their story, they’ve gradually managed to buy new boats and rebuild their business.
“We’ve been able to use what equipment that we have been able to purchase, and we picked up a job in Lahaina where we cleaned up the shoreline,” she explained. “That was a really big job. And, you know, it’s kind of just full circle that we had nothing, we lost everything, and then we were able to acquire more equipment, which was in turn used to help clean up Lahaina.”
When the rescuers reunited last month in Wailuku to receive their awards and recognition, Marzilli said it was a strange experience. They knew one another mostly as voices over the radio or shouted between boats through the smoke and darkness. They knew names and they knew boats, but few of them knew the faces of the others who were there that day.
“We kind of bonded. Immediate bonds were made between people, but when we were done with the events, none of us recognized one another,” Marzilli said.“We were all in the room there … and none of us were speaking to one another until we all got called up … it was such a surreal moment. If we had passed on the street, we wouldn’t have recognized one another, even though we contributed to such an amazing event in history with these people.”
Marzilli is no longer assigned to Coast Guard Station Maui. He’s now assigned to the Harriet Lane, the Coast Guard’s new Honolulu-based “Indo-Pacific Support Cutter” devoted to operations in Oceania. This summer he deployed with the Lane on an extended patrol around the region, working with authorities in island nations to combat illegal fishing.
He said he loves getting to learn about cultures across the islands, but added that “Maui has a special place in my heart. I really came to love that island and it’s a place I see as a home.”
Meanwhile, Lovitt and Nelson are gearing up for whale-watching season with their company, Maui Ocean Adventures, which is run entirely by fire survivors.
Lovitt said that being back on the water has been “healing.”
“I didn’t want to at first after going through that,” she said, “and then someone kind of forced me back out on a boat.”
For now, Lovitt said, “we’re just stoked to just get back to work and do what we love.”