Man dies shielding friend’s dog from Maui wildfire

A Hawaii retiree burned to death heroically trying to protect his longtime friend’s beloved dog from the flames of the catastrophic Maui wildfires, which have claimed the lives of at least 96 people.

The owner of the doomed pooch, retired Maui fire captain Geoff Bogar, survived the inferno the broke out last week — the deadliest US wildfires in more than a century — but later discovered the charred skeleton of his pal, 68-year-old Franklin Trejos, lying on top of Bogar’s 3-year-old golden retriever, Sam, who also was found dead inside Trejos’s burnt-out car in Lahaina.

Bogar and Trejos, who had been close friends for 35 years, initially stayed behind to help others in the historic town of 13,000 when it became overwhelmed by a wildfire ignited last Tuesday by dry conditions and winds from a distant hurricane.

The duo tried to save Bogar’s house, but as the flames moved closer and closer, they decided to flee, with each man escaping to his own car.

When Bogar’s vehicle wouldn’t start, he broke through a window to get out and crawled on the ground until a police patrol found him and brought him to a hospital.

Trejos was not as lucky.

It was not clear how the 68-year-old and his buddy’s dog became trapped, but they never made it out of his vehicle.

When Bogar returned the next day to look for his friend, he discovered Trejos’s bones in the back seat of his scorched car, resting atop the remains of Bogar’s dog, whom he had apparently tried in vain to shield with his own body from the blaze.

Trejos, a native of Costa Rica, had lived for years with Bogar and his wife, Shannon Weber-Bogar, helping her with her seizures.

“God took a really good man,” said Weber-Bogar, who has switched her Facebook profile picture to a photo of Trejos.

Another friend wrote, “Frank was such a great guy.

“So sorry he is gone.”

A third mourner described Trejos as an “amazing person with a huge heart.”

With Post wires