Biden recalls his own small kitchen fire in failed attempt to console Maui wildfire survivors

President Biden told a room full of Maui wildfire survivors that he could commiserate with their plight because years ago, firefighters “ran into flames” at his own home to rescue first lady Jill Biden — retelling a story that for years has drawn unflattering fact-checks.

The 80-year-old president was attempting to make common ground with his audience by invoking a small kitchen fire in 2004 at his Wilmington, Del., home that the local fire department said “could be considered an insignificant fire” because it was quickly doused.

“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, whose historic town was destroyed on Aug. 8 in wildfires that killed at least 114 people.

“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,” Biden said.

“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.”

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