LAS VEGAS, Nevada (FOX5) – Families in Lahaina are still struggling with the aftermath of the devastating fires that ravaged the area last year.

This could be felt all the way here to Las Vegas, on the so-called 9th Island.

FOX5 spoke with Alexy Rollins, who has called Las Vegas home for many years but whose heart has always been tied to Maui. When the fires began to spread last year, she anxiously waited for news from her family.

Now, a year later, she reflects on the impact of the fires.

“I can’t believe a year has already passed,” Rollins said.

For Rollins and her family, it was a year of loss and devastation.

Rollins grew up in Maui, but the town of Lahaina was home for the Las Vegas resident for many years.

“It hurts to go home,” Rollins said.

Rollins said she returned to Lahaina a few months after the fires and found ashes still left from buildings burned to the ground. When the fires broke out last August, Rollins was in Las Vegas trying to reach her mother, father and two younger brothers.

“I said, ‘Mom, how are you? Are you OK?'” Rollins said. “My mom finally called and she had to be standing in this one spot on a hill.”

Rollins moved to Las Vegas with her family for a few months. But life after she returned was never the same.

Her mother died shortly afterwards from health complications and then the housing issue became a major problem.

“Not only is it hard to find a house in original condition, but the cost of living is huge,” Rollins said. “You can’t pay $4,800 for a 700-square-foot one-bedroom house.”

Rollins said the jump in costs was due to a rise in fire insurance. She said some of her friends still have to pay mortgages on homes that burned to the ground.

“I think a lot of people are going to leave to start over,” Rollins said.

As costs force locals to migrate, many survivors today find it difficult to sense empathy and sensitivity from the tourists who visit them.

“Imagine your house burned down and you’re living in a hotel. You look out the window and see a family of tourists enjoying their lives to the fullest,” Rollins said.

She believes that Maui will be rebuilt over time, but will never be the same again.

On Friday, Hawaii Governor Josh Green held a press conference and said 17,000 people had survived the fires.

The biggest challenge remains relocating survivors from their emergency shelters to transitional housing.

The state of Hawaii is working with the help of the federal government to build more than 1,000 housing units.

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