While speaking before a room of Maui wildfire survivors, President Joe Biden said he could relate to what they were experiencing, as he said he once had a fire in his home.
Biden discussed the 2004 kitchen fire at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, while trying to find common ground with the victims, a practice that has drawn criticism in the past.
“I don’t want to compare difficulties, but we have a little sense — Jill and I — what it’s like to lose a home,” Biden told the Lahaina residents present. “Years ago now — 15 years ago — I was in Washington doing ‘Meet the Press.’ It was a sunny Sunday, and lightning struck at home on a little lake that is outside of our home — not on a lake, a big pond.
“And it hit a wire and came up underneath our home into the heating ducts, air conditioning ducts. And to make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette, and my cat.”
The president continued recounting his tale, saying that firefighters “ran into flames to save my wife and save my family. Not a joke.”
Biden has shared this story in the past, discussing it in 2022, when he went as far as to say that the firefighters almost died in his kitchen.
However, The New York Times noted that the story was an “example of embellishment.” The Cranston Heights Fire Company, which responded to his fire, also noted that the story wasn’t exactly as he recalled.
The Associated Press reported at the time of the fire that it was a “small fire that was contained to the kitchen.” The media outlet spoke with the local fire chief at the time, George Lamborn, who said they had it under control in “20 minutes.”
“For the fire service, this could be considered an insignificant fire as it did not lead to multiple alarms and did not need a widespread incident response throughout the county,” the department said in a statement, the New York Post reported. “However, in the case for any homeowner, it was obviously significant at the time and was quickly responded to by the local firefighters.”
The fire that rocked Lahaina earlier this month has resulted in the death of at least 114 people and inflicted billions of dollars worth of property damage that could take years to repair.
Biden was met by protestors on Monday in Maui, as some held signs that said “Go home Joe” and “No Comment,” a reference to his refusal to comment on the disaster when asked last week.
Related
Related
