Homeowner Sahel Anvarinejad is grateful no one was hurt in a fire that destroyed her house and a cottage on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025, in South Maui. The Maui News/Gary Kubota

A fire that produced flames visible for miles destroyed a three-bedroom home and cottage Saturday night at Maui Meadows in South Maui.

Homeowner Sahel Anvarinejad said her parents were inside the cottage on Malina Place when they saw sparks and heard an explosion. They struggled to get away from the flames, but luckily two unknown people helped them escape the blaze.

Anvarinejad said her father stumbled in the dark, but no one was injured.

“I’m just grateful my parents got out and no one got hurt,” she said.

Anvarinejad was finishing work at the family’s vegan food truck, Tabay’s Mindful Kitchen, in the food court across from the Costco in Kahului when she received a call shortly after 9:50 p.m. telling her house was on fire.

She said she bought the house on Feb. 14, 2024, and was looking forward to the one-year anniversary. Her son, Tabay Atkins, is attending Arizona State University, and he learned of the fire Saturday night.

“All of our belongings, memories and the life we were building — gone,” he said.

He said it has been his mother’s lifelong dream to live on Maui and that dream finally became a reality the day she purchased her home, which also happened to be the same day of her cancer-free anniversary.

“But just six days before the one-year anniversary of getting our home, we lost it all,” Atkins said.

According to Anvarinejad, she is a cancer survivor who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and has been cancer-free for several years.

Atkins said the family is still in shock and trying to process their losses.

“We are not sure what to do from here and what comes next, but we could use help to start over,” he said. “Any support, whether through donations or simply sharing this with your community, would help us out a lot.”

The family has started a Go Fund Me at gofund.me/0bd4a725. As of Monday afternoon, the page had raised more than $9,980.