Original subtitles

Oh, my God, what the [bleep]?

We're gonna be okay. We're in the ocean.

Come out, come out, come out!

It literally looks like we're in Hell.

It won't be long

before this thing's all [bleep].

There are power lines everywhere.

I just gotta get out of here before we burn to death.

I'm so scared.

Oh, my God.

We gotta go.

Aloha!

Welcome. This is the famous coconut grove.

We are standing in the corner closest to the ocean.

My name is U'I Kahue-Cabanting.

About the week before we became aware

that there was a hurricane

passing close to the islands,

but it's not going to hit Hawaii.

This is a problem for us,

high pressure to the north,

a category four hurricane to the south.

Winds will start ramping up today.

You'll see gusts up to 65 for these area.

High wind warning for just about everybody.

My mother lives on the island.

I care about this community.

This one in particular has a special place in my heart.

The forecast on Maui was expected to be okay,

so people were preparing for

what was to come, which was extreme winds.

You're like, "Okay,

just bring in the patio furniture,

close the windows," that type of thing.

By ten o'clock, I turn on my phone video.

Anything that's not secured is starting to come undone.

Oh, my God!

And I'm thinking, "What the hell is happening?"

This is just really getting out of hand.

We're getting all kinds of reports

that these high winds

are causing extreme damage in the community of Lahaina.

Roofs are being ripped off, trees are falling down.

It's just total chaos.

Chrissy, what are we going to do with our boat?

Chrissy, my wife,

is very, very on it with the weather.

She's been a captain here

for 25 years.

Dude, look... Oh, that boat

is blowing over, dude.

Look at that boat. - Oh, my God!

It keeled over.

Wow. It's just like sea smoke out there.

There has to be at least 40 knots of wind

for sea smoke to happen.

I've been through a few hurricanes,

and this was by far

the strongest consistent winds I've experienced.

We're gonna get knocked by debris, dude.

We were looking at this weather.

We're like, "Let's go down

and look at our boat in the harbor

and just make sure that it's okay."

I have never [bleep].

When I see extreme

winds, dry conditions, there's always that concern,

"Is this going to turn into a wildfire?"

Because it just takes one spark.

Oh, my God!

Through the smoke and debris, you could just see fire

behind the palm trees.

You can see the flames.

From there, the ball is rolling,

and it just didn't really stop.

Sam Spangler is joining us now,

as we continue to follow the breaking news

on the island of Maui.

Strong winds fuel multiple brush fires.

County officials now telling everybody,

do not go into Lahaina town.

There's no sirens, there's no firefighters.

We realized

no-one's coming to help us.

And, while we were sitting there,

waiting at the main loading dock,

we started hearing explosions.

What is that?

And then it happened again.

It was the fuel tanks in the boats.

They were exploding like bombs.

This is no longer a wait and see, we had to leave.

Fleetwood's is on fire. Front Street is on fire.

That was the moment when it blacked out.

I was, like, "We're not going to be driving

vehicles away from here."

And so, we all hopped in the dinghy.

It literally looks like we're in Hell.

My boss calls me and he tells me,

"Get on the first plane out to Maui".

And I was able to get on the flight.

The rest of the flights after mine were canceled.

Seeing the devastation

and the sadness and the chaos when I landed

was just heartbreaking.

I'm thinking about people that I know on the island,

if they're okay.

We were hearing reports that there were multiple fires,

and multiple areas

that were threatened.

You can see smoke from different areas.

I don't know what's burning yet

but boy is it on fire.

I was on my bike following the smoke.

I'm curious, you know, I have the photographer background.

I wanted to see where the smoke was coming from.

Dude, this is like the end of the world

type of stuff right here, boy.

I'm not trying to get electrocuted obviously, but.

Dang, bro!

I had some really, really black smoke.

This is crazy.

Blue sky...

end of the world.

Oh, my God, I found the fire.

I really hope there's no-one over there.

This is so crazy.

It's gonna burn all these peoples' houses.

All of these peoples' houses.

And now it's gonna spread to that.

It's coming all this way. It's literally...

literally all, all these houses,

all of this is gonna burn.

All of this.

Lahaina is, you know,

like what you call a powder keg.

Maui is going down. We got a fire over here, kid!

When you have

a high wind event like that,

those high winds can also fan the flames very quickly.

The hurricane force winds are pumping

huge amount of oxygen into the fire,

and the more oxygen a fire has,

the hotter and faster it burns.

We're hearing reports coming in

of people trying to escape the flames

and running in all directions.

We knew very quickly that this situation

had exploded out of control,

and that this small community needed a lot of help.

Maui Police Department!

Maui Police Department! Evacuate!

Every second matters.

You're dealing with erratic flames and winds

that are blowing those flames in every single direction.

Hey, we gotta go.

Maui Police Department!

Dude, I can't see or breathe.

What's down there?

Can you guys drive down there?

Is it bad down that way?

We gotta get all these cars out.

We don't want everybody to die. Okay?

Central, do you guys have the combo for the gate

by the river?

Does anybody got a bolt cutters?

No? I can ram it.

Rocco, Malin, a rammo.

- You got a hook, yeah? - Let me cut the lock?

Yeah, you got cutters? Bring 'em, bring 'em.

Let's go, brother.

You get 'em.

Yes, sir!

Brother, come on, let's go, let's go!

Hurry up!

It's tangled.

Break the fence. Let's go!

You gotta go!

Oh, my God!

Oh, my God! What the [bleep]?

What started as an extreme wind event

has now turned into a wildfire,

and those same winds have fanned the flames.

This wildfire has now turned out of control.

We're pretty much overrun by fire down here.

We got multiple structures on fire,

so we're gonna need multiple units.

Copy that.

Our visibility is really limited right now.

Seeing the devastation

and the sadness and the chaos

was just heartbreaking.

People didn't know if their family and friends

had made it out alive.

Stand by.

Around three o'clock,

I'm texting my family and I'm like,

"This is just out of control.

I don't think it's safe to be here."

Me and several other neighbors were in the street,

and we see gray smoke

and then it turns to thick black smoke.

I don't even know how I'm breathing,

and I think to myself, "I just got to get the hell out."

Are you feeling hot? Speak to me.

There's one in the back.

And when I go to jump in my car,

I see my neighbors with an older woman and older man,

like, "Can you help us?"

And I'm like, "Oh, my God! Of course." They jump in.

Point it down this. Sorry, Bertha.

We're all heading towards

Hallucinate Road, which is the main

thoroughfare out of town.

Oh, my God! It crossed.

We were already surrounded.

Oh, my God.

This is a [bleep] nightmare.

There's no way this could really be happening.

Oh, my God.

Are we backing up?

Are you serious?

I can either get out

and possibly die,

or you can stay in the car and possibly die.

We're hearing reports now

that the fire has reached Front Street

and is just overtaking the businesses.

Such a gut punch to hear

that this historic community is now burning to the ground.

I was the warehouse manager

for a art gallery.

The art gallery was right on Front Street.

Crazy [bleep].

It's on another level.

Around three o'clock is when we first saw the fire.

I grabbed fire extinguishers.

I was just walking around the building

and putting out little fires,

but once the wind started picking

it's just instant fires everywhere.

That gallery is gonna burn.

And the only things you really see were the red embers.

It looked like it was raining hell fire.

I thought to myself, "Is this gonna be it?"

That day,

I could hear the wind.

It's just go, you know, like,

it sounded like we were in a wind tunnel.

As I look out my windows, I'm just watching, you know,

pieces of shingles blow off our roof.

I started filming because I was, like,

"This is really strong winds,

this is crazy."

I'm talking to the neighbors and we're, like,

"That's smoke."

We thought it was a brush fire,

that's all it was.

Until my neighbor

came flying up in his truck and said,

"Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are on fire.

We gotta go, go, go now."

I froze. I, like, I was, like,

"What's on fire?"

I look out my front door, looked the one way and saw

perfect sun over here and then, looking this way,

and it's just dark, dark, dark.

All of a sudden, neighbors are scrambling.

Everything's going crazy.

We have to go.

We just have to get out of here.

I had Jasper with me,

our Jack Russell terrier mix dog.

So, I evacuated to the Safeway parking lot,

and now we have to evacuate that.

The fire's coming this way.

We just jumped in the car and I took off.

Oh, my God, I can't see anything.

We're surrounded by [bleep] fire.

Oh, my God, and lines!

There are power lines everywhere.

I just got to get out of here before we burn to death!

I'm so scared.

Oh, my God! Like everything's on fire.

I thought I was gonna die, and I thought if,

if nothing else, maybe my phone would make it,

and I could tell my husband

that I was sorry that I didn't leave earlier,

and that I loved him, and that I didn't, you know,

I was sorry that I'd died.

Oh, my God, oh my God,

oh my God!

Oh, my God, I can't see anything.

We're surrounded by [bleep] fire!

Oh, my God, and lines!

There are power lines everywhere.

I just got to get out of here before we burn to death.

I'm so scared!

Oh, my God! Like everything is on fire.

Oh, my God, I have never been so scared in my life.

I think...

Oh! Oh, my God!

Oh, my God, oh my God, oh my God!

Oh, my God!

Ah!

I'm so [bleep] scared.

It's okay, it's okay.

We're okay. We're okay, aren't we God?

When I came out of the smoke and I saw the blue sky,

it was like, "I'm alive.

I got out, I got out, I got out."

I don't think anyone would believe what's happening

in Lahaina right now.

Everybody is evacuating from everywhere.

That's the sun.

I get up past Fleming Street and Front Street

and the highway and...

I see that the fire is so hot

there's steam coming off of the harbor.

That is superheated air going out over the ocean

and it's creating steam.

The thing that they don't tell you about

surviving any sort of natural disaster like that

is what happens afterwards.

When your adrenalin drops, and you're not

gonna die anymore,

you feel... I felt like I had been hit by a truck.

I really felt like I had been in a car accident,

and it was so over-the-top scary,

I don't even know the right word.

Terrifying doesn't even begin to describe it.

Wind-whipped

wildfires continue to rage.

At least six people have been killed,

dozens more injured,

some with critical burn injuries,

and officials are still conducting search and rescues.

This fire's raging,

communications are down,

so people don't know

what's going on, where this fire's spreading

or how widespread there is.

There is the chance that you could drive

in the wrong direction, towards more danger.

Oh, my God!

Me and brother, Milo, and my mom, Tina.

We just figured if we

kind of hunkered down at home we'd be fine

and we'd sit it out.

Look, they're in reverse.

We saw our neighbors,

and they grabbed their dog and drove out of there.

Yeah, grandma and grandpa are leaving,

we're leaving.

So, we were, like, "Okay, I think it's time.

It's time to go."

I just don't want to get freaking,

a fire, uh, pole fall on our car.

Like, I think it's worse to leave, honestly.

Well, then why are we leaving?

I just feel like, I don't know.

We knew as long as we, like,

got out of the neighborhood we'd be fine.

Because we thought that's where the danger was.

Obviously that wasn't the case.

Wow!

Oh, we're not gonna be able

to get out of the neighborhood.

Well, worst case scenario,

just get out and we'll run towards...

Just put something over your face.

Wow, I can't believe how dark it is.

That's crazy.

Wow!

- Look at the sun. - I know.

That's crazy.

I mean, we're getting out of it,

so that's great. - Yeah.

Wow, look at all that soot. That's nuts, dude.

Look at this. It's all around.

I know.

Oh, good, here's the fire truck.

At least they're right here.

Okay, that's good.

Damn, dude.

You got it. That's all you.

Thank God.

Milo, put your earbuds in.

- It's gonna be fine. - It's fine.

The firemen are right here.

We just have to get out of this traffic.

Oh, no.

Don't say, "Oh, no".

It's gonna be fine.

The firemen are right here. They're not gonna let...

Yeah, they're not gonna let anything...

I don't see that fire, dude.

At that point,

my brother started to kind of panic.

Oh, Jesus. Let's get it going.

I don't know why it's a standstill.

I don't understand.

We kept saying, you know,

"It's gonna be okay, we're gonna make it out."

we were talking to him,

but we were really telling ourselves, also.

Wow!

I just can't freaking see.

I remember my mom, like, being lost in the smoke,

not knowing where to go.

Oh, my gosh, look at behind.

We're down on Front Street.

We kind of knew the fire was

creeping up on us and gaining ground on our car.

It immediately felt like it got hotter,

it immediately felt like the space we were in

got more enclosed and it was getting hard to breathe.

There was fire on the left and the right of our car.

That was finally when we got our bags and ran.

Our last resort was to jump in the water,

so we jump over that sea wall right on Front Street

and climb over those jagged black rocks

and get in the water.

We're gonna be okay. We're in the ocean.

Oh, [bleep]!

Both sides, to the left and the right are on fire.

Don't look at the fire, don't look.

Look this way.

You're going to be okay, Milo.

Oh, man, that house is burning

and my car is right in front of that house.

I didn't want to separate us at all,

so we kind of hung on each other,

put our arms around

each other's shoulders

and we're kind of just talking to each other.

You know, "It's gonna be okay, we're gonna get out of it."

There didn't look like there was any safe place.

At that moment, we kind of realized we might not make it.

scary.

We gotta move, just move fast, just move fast.

Make a left, make a left right here.

Not too fast, not too fast,

we need the guys in the back of us.

Aw, [bleep].

Aw, [bleep] it, [bleep] it.

Just get around it.

They get my body cams.

At least they have our last memories.

Fist responders

are getting thousands of phone calls

from people asking for help,

and that's putting an extreme stress

on this small department.

Hey there, hey. Ask if they can move.

Come out, come out, come out!

Hey, we can take four, we can take four, we can take four.

Four. Four. How many?

One, two, three.

Central, 1824.

I have about 15 trapped parties here.

We could transport probably about six at the moment.

We need more units down here.

We're getting out of this area.

We're getting out.

I'm just gonna drive my truck.

Let's go, let's go, let's go!

Come on, come on, come on, everybody out, everybody out.

Everybody out, everybody out, everybody out.

Let's go! Let's go! Is that everybody?

Come on, Uncle. Let's go!

Let's go!

Is that everybody?

We're going to the civic center.

Behind the civic center.

I've covered a lot of wildfires,

and I've seen the aftermath

and what a fire can do to a community,

and what loss looks like for neighborhoods.

I've never seen anything quite like what I saw in Lahaina.

Veronica Miracle joins us live in Hawaii.

Information has been slowly trickling in,

because there are still 11,000 people without power,

their communication lines down,

and so it's been very difficult.

A lot of people over on this side of the island

here in Maui experiencing a sense of helplessness

as they wait to learn what else has happened.

We're hearing that the town of Lahaina,

their may be nothing left.

It takes your breath away

to see a place that you know so well

completely reduced to ash.

Everything is [bleep] burnt.

It was crazy that

everything was on fire, everywhere I looked.

There's nobody here to put it out.

It was like being in Hell.

I'm running into downed power lines on fire.

I'm running into burning cars, I'm running into just, like,

the hottest temperature I've ever felt in my life.

God.

There is not gonna be anything left

on this side of town.

Oh, this might hurt.

The wind had shifted...

...and I didn't know where to go.

I couldn't really breathe outside.

This is the very back of Safeway.

Won't be long before this thing's all...

All of a sudden out of the corner of my,

my periphery of my eye over here, you know,

this guy comes staggering

and just ugh, ugh, ugh,

and just face plants onto the asphalt,

onto the road, and he is quite, just,

badly, badly burnt.

And this, I will never forget that smell.

It just make my stomach turn

just even thinking about it right now.

He passed shortly after from his burns.

The fire's been burning from hours.

There's no end in sight.

Those high winds drove flames down

toward the ocean.

Ugh!

Asher!

I run a doggy day car.

I know, I know, I know.

Asher!

I was looking for the dogs,

and I would yell, "Asher" over and over and over again.

I love that dog.

Fire was moving in and it was moving so fast

there was no time to be scared.

It was get the dogs, get my wife, get out of here.

Hey, buddy, you okay?

The bodies that I would come across,

some of them I came across twice,

not realizing, because I could barely see.

Asher!

Asher!

Hey, where are you? - Right here!

- Are you okay? - Yes.

- Gotta get up! - Alright.

There are people dead.

People that were

burnt and I thought were dead...

Head down that way. - Oh, man!

Are you all burnt?

Are you burnt?

I would wake them up and like,

"Hey, you need to come with me."

Okay. You gotta go down there, okay, Uncle?

Right here's bad, there's a lot of smoke.

You gotta go!

Okay? I'll be back.

Asher!

Asher!

Asher!

Raina!

Hey, come here buddy, we gotta go.

After I found one of my dogs...

Asher!

...the smoke started to come in

and the heat started to come in,

and I realized now I could die.

I need to get back to my wife.

Asher!

Rocket!

As I'm trying to get back,

I'm finding people that were in bad spots.

It felt like it was my responsibility

to be able to help as many people as I could.

Hey, brother, you okay?

Hey, hey brother, are you okay?

I got back to the group of people and my wife

by Front Street.

Flames were just coming over like a blow torch at 70 mph.

That's when we knew that our only option

is to jump into the ocean.

If anybody does find this.

We're gonna survive.

But it's pretty scary.

I really didn't know if we were gonna make it.

We might die out here.

Coast Guard, Coast Guard.

Coast Guard is looking for people.

- Yeah? - Yeah, my mom just texted me.

The cell phone service kept going in and out,

and then all these text messages start coming through,

and that's when I realized, "Okay, I can make a call,"

so I called the Coast Guard.

Hey, is this Michael?

Yes, this is Mike. I can see you guys.

We're surrounded by fire on both ends.

We can't get out.

Okay, we have a rescue swimmer.

He's coming to you guys. Get everyone together.

Everyone start heading that way.

- Yeah. - Coast Guard is picking us up.

We're on the boat and we're watching

all of Lahaina be engulfed by flames.

The Coast Guard had gone on the radio and said

there were 100 people off Front Street

and we said, "We're a vessel sitting offshore,

we're gonna come and assist."

Be careful right here, there's debris.

Hey, Mike. Do you got a dingy now?

I can, I'm trying man, I'm trying.

You're doing a good job.

Do you see the Coast Guard boat at all?

The one with the blue light?

I see a bunch of blue lights.

Looks like you're directly in front of us.

The two Coast Guard

get on shore and take the children first.

When I saw the kids coming out, I thought,

"Oh, my God, this situation is worse than I thought."

So, we backed out of the surf.

Emma chatted with the kids.

You got her?

And we brought them to the Coast Guard boat.

- Clear? - You guys are clear.

- Clear. - Okay.

Kids are just innocent

and they shouldn't have to go through, you know,

this apocalyptic event.

We're out of the water now,

almost rescued.

We finally get out of the water about 10:30pm,

because all the cars in front of the wall had burned.

Milo, are you okay?

- I'm all good, yeah. - Okay.

We all hopped in the back of the cop car.

We evacuated from our house

and before we could leave our neighborhood

it was just on fire everywhere.

Gosh, I cannot even freaking believe this.

We look to the left of the car

and it's just neighborhoods leveled with fire.

Look at this,

I don't even know what any of this is.

And we look to the right of the car

and there's just nothing

left standing that's not burned.

It really dawned on us the full scale of it.

It felt like it went forever.

It looked like a bomb had been dropped.

Look at this.

I can't believe it, Pete, this is like a war zone.

It's gone.

Yeah, I don't even know what to say, bro.

I don't think there's ever been

anything like this in the history of Hawaii.

The destruction on Lahaina is

difficult to fathom.

An entire community virtually eliminated

in a matter of hours.

Our Veronica Miracle reports.

The view from above is apocalyptic.

You can see a row of cars,

clearly trying to make it out.

To see the before and after

was just incredibly heartbreaking.

I'm out here touring

the burned down part of Lahaina with Flo,

who lost his house, his car,

but got out with his life.

And did you used to come down here?

Oh, yeah. This is...

Across the street is our surf break.

This is my neighbor's,

a really good neighbor's house.

Oh, my God.

I think being in a community

that you have been to and loved

and spent time with your friends and family

and to see the pain

and the suffering of those who survived,

it's just unfathomable.

Here's another safe. This one was here.

The other one should be around here.

One man I just spoke with

escaped the flames.

He lost his house, he lost his car

and he barely got out with his life.

I tried to warn them, as many people as I could.

And now I got the news that there's, like,

so many friends that...

I don't know if they made it.

Finding a place that felt like home to me,

and to have it taken away, you know, it hurts.

It's something I have to deal with.

And, you know, I'll never get over it.

It's really the aftermath

that really starts to kill you.

Every side of the street

we lost neighbors and friends.

The house on the other side of the street, a whole family.

And she was expecting.

I really have trouble sleeping at night

with knowing that Asher didn't make it.

I love that dog.

And...

And that is something I'm gonna live with

the rest of my life.

That community is

so strong and the love is so, so strong.

It will be rebuilt, it's a guarantee,

but there is so much history that's lost,

that you can't get back.