SYLVANIA, Ohio — Chrissy Lovitt, her wife, Emma, and their three dogs can often be found on a boat off the Hawaiian island of Maui, over 4,000 miles from Chrissy's hometown of Sylvania, Ohio.
"I just fell in love with it right away", Lovitt, a local boat captain, said about the waters. "Mother Nature is the most powerful thing out there and she challenges you all the time when you're on a boat."
Lovitt and her wife put themselves in the crossfires of the flames that ravaged the island last week. The death toll has risen to 111 people as of Wednesday. Officials say they expect the number to continue to rise.
Lovitt was on a skiff when the blaze ravaged Lahaina, a town rich with history and cultural significance, and saw people running into the water off the harbor.
"Waves were crashing on them while they were hanging on to the rocks," she said. "They also had a horrible encounter with the smoke, and the flames were reaching over them because the winds were so strong."
Lovitt, along with another boat captain, pulled two children out of the water and brought them to safety. Shortly after, she watched her 36-foot catamaran burn. She recently put her life savings into refurbishing it, as she uses it for her business transporting goods back and forth to the people on Lanai.
"We did not think that it would hit the row that we were in because we have water on both sides," Lovitt said. "I think in the winds, the fire embers caught the mass of the sailboats, so it just lit that row up like a fire tree."
Lovitt's dad and stepmom, Jody and Estel Lovitt, who live in Sylvania, say they received a text from Chrissy at about 4 a.m., letting them know what had happened and that she was okay.
"I'm so thankful that she's alive," Estel said. "I'm very proud of her. She's handled herself extremely well. She saved two children. If she hadn't been there, they'd be dead today."
Jody and Estel visited Chrissy last year, and distinctly remember how dried out everything appeared.
"One thing that we noticed, different than prior years that we've been there, was how dry it was. Before it was always very green," Estel said.
"It wasn't as colorful or vibrant," added Jody.
Lovitt, who has opened her home to several displaced residents from Lahaina, said she is still living with the trauma that she and many other survivors endured during the wildfires.
"The first five days I was getting up in the middle of the night, looking out the window for fire," she said. "Anytime the wind blows, I'm on edge."
People magazine featured Chrissy, calling her actions during the Maui wildfires "heroic." Her family has set up a GoFundMe so Chrissy and her wife can rebuild their business after losing their boat and car in the fire.
"I'm hoping people will be generous to the GoFundMe pages, not only Chrissy's, but the others that are out there," Estel said. "That's one thing about Americans. We are generous by nature."