The city does not have a record of the fire at the property, although it is evident that there was one. However, there is no record on file that indicates the city ever received a permit application to do that work or inspected the property after its conversion to a residence. In 1986, the owners applied to have the garage converted into a home, and the city council of the day approved the conversion. I think the city should have to tear it down because they're the ones who got me in this mess," Elton said. The property doesn't have an occupancy certificate and now cannot be lived in. (Paul Pickett/CBC)Īfter Elton alerted the city to the problem, she was handed a long list of fine notices. It had exchanged hands multiple times since the 1980s, and the city had been collecting property tax on what it considered to be a residential property.Ī metal casing still hangs inside Tiffany Elton's attic signaling that the property was once a commercial garage. The property was sold as a home years before, despite the city having never inspected the property following its conversion. The following spring, she discovered an opening at the front of her house which led her down a frustrating fact-finding mission that still hasn't concluded.Ī CBC News investigation in January 2022 revealed Elton's home was originally a double-car garage that had been in a fire and rebuilt as a home by covering up the charred walls with new drywall. Read the original CBC Investigates report here: When a house isn't a homeĮlton purchased the home on Summer Street in July 2020 for $168,000.I've been taking the doors off, just getting all the stuff out and selling what I can, piece by piece, whatever I can sell," she said. Like all the kitchen cabinets, I sold them. She can't live in it, she can't sell it for someone to occupy, and without an affordable builder and money for a costly teardown, she has few options. So it's been a little bit difficult there and she wants her TV room back at some point."Įlton is stuck with her 776-square-foot home in central St. And then also I run a business, so I do a lot of production from home as well. It's a bright spot in an otherwise dreary situation. "I don't need a puffer anymore," she said, explaining her breathing has improved since moving out. Holes cut throughout the drywall reveal charred wood, releasing a scent Elton knew was there all along. "The risk for destructive fires could increase in the future if flash droughts become more common, as some studies have indicated.A burning smell lingers inside Tiffany Elton's former home. If an area falls into drought quickly, that means there is a longer window of time for fires to occur," said Jason Otkin, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "The most destructive fires usually occur during drought. "It's these kind of multiple, interactive challenges that really lead to a disaster." "These kinds of climate change-related disasters are really beyond the scope of things that we're used to dealing with," Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia's faculty of forestry, said. A hurricane that was passing the islands hundreds of miles away sent "unusually strong trade winds" to Mau, helping fuel the fire, as much of the island experienced drought.Īs global temperatures increase, the likelihood of more intense hurricanes and drought also increases, creating an even bigger risk for more events like what Maui just experienced in the future. But a series of environmental factors, exacerbated by climate change, played a large role. It remains unclear what sparked the first flame that grew into the disastrous fire. Green that the tree will attempt to " generate new growth and buds on branches." That, he said, can happen even if there are dead branches on the tree. Maui residents deliver aid to hardest hit areas 02:06 With dozens of people dead from the fire that tore through the area, Hirono said she believes the tree is offering some optimism among despair. Mazie Hirono visited the tree, saying an arborists on the scene was doing "everything he can" to help save the famous banyan. It also has 46 "major trunks" aside from the original it was planted with, and is known for being "the largest banyan tree in the entire United States," according to the organization. Since then, it's grown to be "extraordinary, almost surreal," standing over 60 feet tall with a quarter-mile circumference, according to the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. The Lahaina banyan tree was planted on April 24, 1873, when it was just 8 feet tall, as a gift from missionaries from India. ![]() "Traumatized, much like the town." The 150-year-old banyan tree is seen in Lahaina after wildfires driven by high winds burned across most of the town several days ago, in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii on August 10, 2023. ![]() "It's like a burn victim itself," Green said.
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