LAHAINA >> Dozens of Lahaina residents and property owners Friday were denied passes to be the first to enter the burn zone Monday because they did not live along Kaniau Road, known as Zone 1-C.

Sue Arakawa, 72, was the first in line at the Lahaina Civic Center hoping to get an entry pass to see her property on Kauhi Place.

Arakawa arrived 30 minutes ahead of the 8 a.m. opening of the Lahaina Civic Center only to be told that her property lies outside of Zone 1-C, along with more than a dozen people who followed her, who also left disappointed.

“I was in line for nothing,” Arakawa said. “They didn’t specify who gets a pass.”

Even after they were shown a map of Lahaina, several Lahaina residents asked why they were not being allowed in first.

Maui County did announce Wednesday night that the first residents and property owners to be let in had to live or own property along Kaniau Road, among the first to be cleared of initial toxic debris from the Aug. 8 fire that killed at least 97 people.

Sheri Tihada, 48, was the first Kaniau Road resident to receive a pass to go back in Monday morning.

The process took an hour to verify her residence, along with a demonstration on how to put on a temporary hazardous materials suit, booties, gloves and N95 mask.

People like Tihada who were granted entry were told to sit down after 30 minutes to catch their breaths and gather themselves and take advantage of portable shade, water and rinsing stations to wash off potentially toxic air particles and other materials.

Tihada and her husband, Joey — one of Lahainaluna High School’s football coaches — lived in the four-bedroom, 3-1/2-bath, split-level home that her father built in 1972 and that they shared with three others.

After the fire they went back to the property and saw that it was obliterated.

But Sheri Tihada said she wants go to back in on Monday “for closure.”

Asked how she’s likely to feel on her second visit after the fire, Tihada said, “I’m sure it’ll be overwhelming. It’ll be hard.”

Gary Fortey of Honokowai received the second entry pass to Kaniau Road on behalf of his daughter, Zoe Chesson, 30, who has since relocated to Kona with her husband and their two children — but wants to return Monday.

Fortey arrived at the Lahaina Civic Center with a photo of his daughter’s driver’s license, and workers then verified her address on a database.

Zoe and her husband, Peyton, had rented a two-bed, one-bath ohana unit along Kaniau Road for the past eight years.

After the fire they relocated to Kona for Peyton Chesson’s job as a mechanic with a parasail company that also had a Maui operation.

Zoe Chesson hasn’t told anyone that she moved from Lahaina after the fire, her dad said.

“She’s been having a rough time (on Maui) because 30 times a day people ask how she’s doing,” Fortey said. “She went to Kona to decompress.”

After receiving vehicle entry passes, Fortey left the Lahaina Civic Center with the maximum three bright-orange nylon bags full of personal protective equipment but said he’ll likely watch his 4-year-old and 18-month-old grandchildren while Zoe and Peyton Chesson tour what’s left of their old home.

Fortey said he did not know how Zoe and Peyton will feel Monday. But he knows what they’ll see, after talking to their landlord.

“It’s all gone,” he said. “There’s nothing left.”

Maui County this week announced on mauicounty.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID= 12873 that the first Lahaina residents would only be allowed to see property along Kaniau Road starting Monday.

But several frustrated residents who showed up Friday at the Lahaina Civic Center insisted that the information was unclear.

“There’s not a lot of information,” said Reymond Tadeo, 34, who needed to get a passport to replace the one burned in the fire.

Tadeo wants to see what’s left of the four-bedroom, two-bath, single-family home on Pupu Place that he shared with his mother, Clarita, 75, and his two brothers even though he knows “it’s in ashes.”

Josephine Tomas, 61, and her husband, Freddy, 65, showed up to pick up their replacement Philippine passports that were destroyed by the fire that also obliterated their multifamily, two-story, eight-bedroom, 4-1/2-bath home that housed 12 people on Pauwala Place.

“It’s all ashes,” Tomas said. “There’s nothing left.”

Still, Tomas wants to see the remnants when she and her husband are finally let into the restricted area.

Asked when that might be, she said, “I don’t even know what zone that is.”

“We just gotta be patient,” she said. “There’s nothing else we can do.”