Joa Navarro doubted he could outrun the flames. On Aug. 8, the teenager tried to flee Hawaii’s Lahaina wildfire, on Maui, but was stuck in traffic with a near-empty tank of gas. 

“I didn’t know how far I was going to make it,” he says on a call.

Then he saw Jackie Ellis pass by in her own car. His favorite teacher at Lahainaluna High School taught him science all four years. He caught up to her and waved her down. After he managed to park his car, Ms. Ellis let him jump in hers.

“He kind of kept me calm in the way that an 18 year old shouldn’t have to do for an adult,” Ms. Ellis told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. His presence helped her make better decisions, she said, “because I had someone else to look out for.” 

Together they drove to safety, surviving what has become the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than a century. So far, more than 100 people are confirmed dead, with about 10 times as many names still unaccounted for, according to the FBI.

Now in Utah, on the other side of the ocean, Mr. Navarro has just started his first week of college. Displayed in his dorm room is the print-edition front page of the Aug. 9 Maui News: a photo of palm trees silhouetted by a fiery sky.

“Hopefully it’s all good and rebuilt by the time I’m done with college,” he says. “But if not, I can definitely get in there, help.”

His community won’t be far from thought. A freshly inked reminder on his right arm reads the words “Lahaina Strong.”