>> NARRATOR: Not long after a devastating fire reduced much of the Hawaiian town of Lahaina to ashes, the community came together in a unity march.

>> We ask for your continued love to be with each one and be in safety in all that we do.

>> As we guide through, let the hearts of those that have passed be in our spirit, be in our souls, as we continue to show our Aloha to all of them, and to one another.

>> More than 100 lives had been lost... thousands displaced... >> Right now Lahaina city is a graveyard.

What happened to beautiful Lahaina, to our community?

>> The tension is rising.

Local officials are being pressed harder than ever before.

>> NARRATOR: The remembrance took place amid lawsuits and investigations related to the cause of the fire and a chaotic emergency response.

>> We were not getting real time information.

>> We got to go!

>> There was nothing to indicate what was going to happen based on the knowledge that we had.

>> NARRATOR: Since the fire in August 2023, a picture has been emerging of critical failures that day.

And in the years leading up to it.

>> I think it’s convenient to feel that when something bad happens, there was nothing we could have done to prevent it.

But this was not a freak accident.

This was not unforeseeable.

>> If anybody’s still out here, it’s time to go!

>> I’m very angry.

The pure negligence.

We begged them to make changes and it didn’t happen.

(chanting in Hawaiian) I truly feel if they would’ve changed things, Lahaina would still be standing... and our people would still be here.

>> Hurricane Dora out in the Central Pacific, now just directly south of the Hawaiian islands, but it is pretty far south of Hawai'i... >> NARRATOR: The day of the deadliest American wildfire in more than a century began with a hurricane.

>> Red flag warning, could see gusts up to 65 for these areas, mostly on the leeward side.

High wind warning for just about everybody and if you don't have a high wind warning... (voice fading out) >> NARRATOR: Maui, Hawai'i's second largest island, was on alert.

>> They issued the red flag warning yesterday, because of the dry conditions, the hot temperatures, the windy conditions, no rain, all of that is easy to start fires and easy to spread them, especially with these kinds of winds.

>> I had been watching this storm for quite a while.

We knew it was coming.

It's a pretty worrisome thing for all of us.

Everybody had canceled their boats that day except one company.

>> NARRATOR: Chrissy Lovitt woke up early to secure her boat in Lahaina Harbor.

>> In the morning, the power went out.

And my wife woke me up and she goes, "We should go check on the boat."

We leave the house at about 5:30.

And it wasn't crazy wind, it was consistent, 30 to 50 knots.

And then there would be an occasional gust of 70 miles an hour.

(rumbling) >> NARRATOR: Across the island in Wailuku, officials had begun gathering at the Emergency Operations Center.

They were monitoring a fire that had started in the upcountry region overnight.

Back in Lahaina, high winds were knocking down power lines.

Kaulana Anderson, a foreman for the Hawaiian Electric company, was on the ground trying to deal with the situation.

>> Our day started off, we had some poles that was falling over.

So we had to come down here and try and secure them, because there was rocking in the wind.

And as we got those poles secured, we got another call up by Lahainaluna School that another pole came down.

>> NARRATOR: It ignited a brush fire along Lahainaluna Road.

>> Power line just went down.

(siren wailing) Hey, the power line is live, yeah?

The power line?

Braddah!

>> NARRATOR: Less than a mile away, at the Hale Mahaolu Eono Senior Living Community, Sanford Hill could smell the smoke.

>> I went out and went into my backyard and looked up the street at Lahainaluna, and I could see all the, the fire department was right on the other side of the bypass, fighting a fire that was smoking.

It wasn't a big fire, maybe two acres.

>> All right, we gotta do-- This one is coming down the mountain already.

>> (on radio): All the homes cleared.

>> When I came in that morning, it was like, super windy, and the power was out.

I was like, "Oh, wow, okay, that's gonna be a (bleep) show today."

>> NARRATOR: At 7:30 A.M., firefighter Aina Kohler started her shift, swapping out the evening crew.

>> We just put a bunch of water on the previously burned stuff for a few hours.

Wind offers a lot of energy.

>> Holy (bleep)!

>> And it was crazy, you know, it's just-- you're standing out there feeling this force of nature, and it's blowing you over.

>> NARRATOR: As the fire grew, police officers had been going door to door, evacuating nearby residents.

>> Come on, come on.

I got you, we won't let you fall, we won't let you fall.

>> Hello?

(dogs barking) You've got to evacuate, there's a fire.

>> I got everything ready to move, and about 9:30 or so, the housing manager, she came up with some of the other staff and was walking through the back of my place, looking at the damage.

And I said "What's going on?"

And she said, "Well, the fire's been 100% contained."

>> NARRATOR: Thinking the situation was under control, Hill headed for an appointment in Wailuku.

But the winds were still raging, knocking down power lines and snarling traffic.

>> When I got to Kelawea Street, it was jammed already with traffic, and so was Lahainaluna Road, just like stopped.

Three fire trucks were just like right there.

They weren't putting out anything, and I was looking real, real hard for fire or smoke or anything.

And I didn't see anything.

>> NARRATOR: Although the county had announced the fire was 100% contained, that only meant that it wasn't spreading.

Aina Kohler and her crew continued to water down the area in an effort to extinguish it.

>> I think, all in all, we were there from 8:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M., so that's about six hours.

>> We left because it was time for us to leave.

The fire was out, as far as we could see it with our naked eye.

>> NARRATOR: But it was the height of the dry season on Maui, when high winds and invasive fire-prone grasses make the island a tinderbox.

(wind blustering) And shortly before 3:00 P.M., the fire Aina Kohler's crew had been fighting rekindled.

(wind blustering) >> On our way back, we got detoured twice due to downed power lines on the highway.

(blustering) But when we got there, it was fresh fire.

Smoke moving super fast.

I was told to just stay there and wait for my next assignment, understanding that the goal was to keep it from jumping the bypass.

>> NARRATOR: But, fueled by strong wind, the fire crossed the Lahaina bypass within 30 minutes, and began burning a path toward the center of town.

(crackling) >> There was, like, a house on fire on the left of me, a house on fire on the right of me, a house is on fire behind me.

It went from a brush fire to complete... just, chaos?

In like, a matter of minutes.

>> There's fire number two.

Oh my gosh.

>> NARRATOR: Shortly after 3:30 P.M., the fire reached Hale Mahaolu Eono, trapping several residents.

>> They couldn't figure out if they should stay and shelter in place or run, because you couldn't really see the flames until it was like literally coming over the, you know, the building.

And unless they got in a car with somebody else who they'd already talked to, they wouldn't have made it out.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: First responders struggled to get there in time; overwhelmed by the speed of the fire.

>> Bro, I don't know what we're doing-- hey, hey, slow down, slow down, slow down, slow down, there's a car right here.

>> NARRATOR: One of three now burning on the island.

>> It was a chaotic, dynamic, rapidly evolving event.

So we knew things were burning, but we didn't know exactly what streets, because you couldn't go up to certain things, because of the intensity.

And the way that this, this fire was moving, it was moving 80 miles an hour.

(wind gusting) Throughout the day, Maui police officers were working to evacuate neighborhoods.

We know that Maui firefighters were battling multiple blazes on different parts of the island.

And were really having a hard time, because there were hurricane force winds, and they couldn't do what they would normally do, which is activate helicopters to try to extinguish the flames from the air.

>> NARRATOR: Christina Jedra covered the response for "Honolulu Civil Beat."

>> The whole thing happened so very quickly, and cell phone coverage was down, other than for 911.

So, for people who were outside of Lahaina, it was hard to know what had happened there.

>> NARRATOR: Across the island, officials at the Emergency Operations Center would take a step that would be highly scrutinized later.

MEMA, Maui's Emergency Management Agency, did not sound the island's network of sirens, and instead issued a text alert at the height of the fire that few people got.

>> The Maui Emergency Management Agency had the ability and authority to activate emergency sirens if they felt that was the right thing to do.

Unfortunately, they didn't in this case, and many people didn't get a warning about this fire until they saw the smoke coming towards them.

(flames crackling) >> Oh my God.

It just turned to-- to night.

Oh my God.

>> There were no emergency sirens from our emergency management system.

And that just shocked the hell out of me.

There were no phone emergency notifications, which also shocked the hell out of me.

>> NARRATOR: U'i Kahue lived in a densely populated neighborhood called Kuhua Camp, along Lahainaluna road.

She and her neighbors, Andrew Amano and Peggy Balisco, fled when they saw the fire approaching.

>> Smoke got darker and looked like it was coming closer.

So we gathered what we could and said, you know, we've gotta get out of here.

My house was already on fire.

My truck was already on fire at that point.

You're breathing hot, hot air and your skin is burning.

>> In our neighborhood, there is only one way out, because the fire was coming down the hill.

>> NARRATOR: Kuhua Camp was built to house sugar plantation workers generations ago.

As the fire spread through the neighborhood, many residents had to navigate downed trees and utility lines, narrow streets, and fenced-off roads.

>> They should have opened the back.

>> I know.

>> Are we backing up, are you serious?

>> We just scooted around the wires to get out, but the traffic was already getting backed up on Kuhua when we left, and so, coming down Lahainaluna Road, but if we had waited any longer, I might not be sitting here.

>> NARRATOR: All three neighbors made it out in time, but others weren't as lucky.

A bottleneck on Kuhua Street, the neighborhood's only remaining exit, trapped dozens in the path of the fire.

>> Beep the horn, beep the horn.

>> (heavy panting): Yo, yo, yo what the-- >> Just go!

>> Yo... >> Ma'am, it's hot.

♪ ♪ >> I rescued my neighbors.

They were standing in their driveway.

I find out in hindsight, around that corner was where the first family was found in the van.

The first child that was identified.

And...

I think, "Who did I miss?

"Who did I... not see?"

♪ ♪ >> It does seem like this fire was a perfect storm, and so many things that could have gone wrong did go wrong.

You would hope that we would be ready for something like this on all fronts, and everyone jumps into action and works together to respond.

In this case, agencies seem to be really siloed and caught flat-footed.

>> NARRATOR: Both first responders on the ground and officials at the emergency operations center were failing to share critical information with each other.

Several key players were also not on site to help manage the crisis, including the head of MEMA, Herman Andaya, who was away at a conference.

Mayor Richard Bissen, who'd taken office just months before, arrived early.

He said the radio updates he was getting from the police and fire departments were spotty and delayed.

>> We lost all power from earlier that day.

So, for most people, there was no internet or phones.

I don't know how everybody else was communicating.

I know how we were, and that was listening to one person with one radio telling us what was happening.

We were not getting real-time information.

>> NARRATOR: That morning, the state had offered additional resources to help fight the fires, but by late afternoon, the county was still trying to handle the situation on its own.

And soon, a fourth fire would ignite, stretching first responders' capacity even further.

>> The wind just took everything and just sped it up super fast.

And I was like, "Oh my god, this is so messed up.

We're so undermanned right now."

(beeping, indistinct yelling) (click, beeping stops) >> We were getting told that the fire was absolutely evolving, it was spreading, it was moving, it was quick-- average given day, average shift, Lahaina has five officers.

And so we moved a, a... bunch of resources over there, but then we also had these other fires that were going on, and they needed to have the police personnel as well.

>> NARRATOR: Amid the chaos, about 20 police officers were trying to get at least 17,000 residents and tourists to safety.

There was particular confusion around how to handle all the downed power lines.

>> NARRATOR: Police dispatchers repeatedly called Hawaiian Electric, looking for guidance.

>> NARRATOR: Although the lines were off, investigations of the response later found a lack of clarity and coordination between Hawaiian Electric and police on whether it was safe to drive over them.

Caught between the approaching fire and downed poles and potentially dangerous power lines, police ended up closing several intersections, worsening traffic on main evacuation routes.

>> You know, downed power lines are downed power lines, and the training that HECO provided in the academies up until this was you treat every down line as it's a live line.

>> It's a speculation, it's a "what if."

I don't deal in what ifs and my department doesn't deal in what ifs.

But regardless, my officers, with the information that they had at the time, directed the traffic in the most appropriate way in order to save lives.

>> NARRATOR: By late afternoon, the fire and downed electric poles and lines had blocked the town's evacuation routes-- Route 30 and the Lahaina Bypass.

Police officers and residents looked for alternate exits along some little-used dirt roads, but many had locked gates.

>> Go!

(gate shaking) (indistinct yelling, gate clattering) >> Go!

(car horn honks) Hurry up!

Go!

>> A lot of people got funneled towards Front Street-- that's like the main road, right up against the ocean.

And there's really few ways out of that.

>> We stuck on Front Street for three hours.

The roof is kind of flying all over, we kind of scared.

>> NARRATOR: Restaurant owner Lily Nguyen became trapped in her car on Front Street.

>> Car in the front of me, car in the back of me.

I'm more scared, because I have 21-year-old daughter with me.

For sure I thought that we're gonna burn in there, because there is no way out, and we cannot see anything, all smoke and fire around us.

>> NARRATOR: One by one, iconic structures on Front Street were overtaken by the fire.

Lahaina's pipes had also been melting, and the water system was collapsing.

>> (indistinct yelling) >> We decided to disconnect from the fire hydrant, because we weren't getting enough water at the rate we needed.

We did what we could with the water we had.

>> (sobbing): I love you guys.

I love you.

Hope you're safe out there.

>> NARRATOR: Resident Shaun Saribay had abandoned his car on Front Street, and began hosing down nearby structures.

>> The heat was so crazy.

The type of material I had, from shorts to shirt, was getting hot, and it was kinda like melting onto, onto my body.

I love you.

Don't worry, remember what dad said?

I'll come back.

(voiceover): The main thing that was on my mind-- fighting for my life to see my kids, not knowing their situation, if dead or alive.

If anybody's still out here, The fire is on Front Street and it is time to go!

>> NARRATOR: In less than three hours, the fire had reached all the way down to Lahaina Harbor, where Captain Chrissy Lovitt's boat was.

>> It looks-- it literally looks like we're in hell.

At that point, there was a lot of chaos in the harbor.

It was like pretty evident that we were now trapped.

I'm wondering, are people dying on land because this fire was so fast?

>> NARRATOR: By now, officers on the ground were warning people there had been fatalities.

>> NARRATOR: But the severity of the situation was not making it up the chain of command.

>> Mayor, thank you so much for joining us.

>> NARRATOR: At 6:00 P.M., Mayor Bissen gave a live interview.

>> I'm happy to report that the road is open to and from Lahaina, Hokiokio Road, Roadway, which was previously closed.

We've had power outages, we've had road closures, school closures, and, of course, we're coming up on nightfall, so we, we'll have additional challenges, but as mentioned earlier in your report, the winds have really been the story of the day for us.

(voiceover): I can tell you that right now, whatever information that was given out at whatever time of the day it was given out, was the best accurate information that we had.

>> Were you aware of fatalities at that time you spoke on TV at 6:00 P.M.?

>> There were no fatalities that were issued at that time.

We weren't being communicated with every single thing that we now know it was happening.

>> We did not know the devastation of Lahaina until the morning of, until the sun rose and we could actually see the pictures that came in.

And so we did not know the first fatality confirmed until the next morning.

>> NARRATOR: On Front Street, the situation was dire.

(panicked conversation) Police officers continued to try to evacuate people, but many residents were left to fend for themselves.

>> No, no, not like this!

Not like this!

>> Keep going.

>> Not like this!

No!

God!

>> For some people, it got so desperate that they had to abandon their cars on Front Street, or abandon their homes and just run into the ocean.

They had no other escape route.

And so some people were out there in the water or on the rocks for hours.

>> You're going to be okay, Milo.

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

>> It's so dark, we can hardly see anything.

We can hear like it's a, it's a bomb explode, like car explode.

(multiple explosions boom) And the wind so high, if you don't get in the ocean, you're gonna get burned.

It's just so unreal.

>> NARRATOR: Lily and her daughter jumped into the water along with dozens of others.

>> The Coast Guard said they had a hundred people in the water, and they're gonna have these hundred people swim out to the Coast Guard vessel.

And I said, "Please don't do that.

"These people that are in the water are tired.

They could be elderly, they could be injured."

>> NARRATOR: Many residents waited in the water for hours until help arrived.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: By dawn, Lahaina lay in ruins.

>> Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my gosh, look at the harbor.

(waves crashing on shore) ♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: The Lahaina fire-- the deadliest in the U.S. in a century-- claimed 102 lives.

>> The woman who lived in that house, Angie Vasquez, she passed away.

The man who lived in this house, Buddy Jantoc, he passed away.

And knowing that not just the place is gone, but the people are gone, um, it's... eerie.

Somehow, I, I didn't die here.

You know, my ashes could have been here, easily.

♪ ♪ >> Nobody alive has ever seen a hundred people in America die from a fire.

It happened well over a century before.

So we're talking about the most rapidly dynamic evolving fire that anybody living in America has ever seen.

>> It was very clear that this was a huge story that would take us many months, and probably years, to cover.

What I learned reporting on what our emergency management agencies are supposed to do is that they're supposed to plan, they're supposed to foresee things.

This fire was historic for Hawai'i, but it wasn't unforeseeable.

>> Lahaina, August, 2018... >> They were bracing for a hurricane... >> Flames riding on the wind in the early morning hours.

>> NARRATOR: In August 2018, a brushfire started in the hills on the outskirts of Lahaina.

>> The whole Lahainaluna side of our hill here was already completely lit up.

And my husband tells me, "Pack our stuff, let's go."

That was the time when we realized that wildfires is something that is affecting us today.

And every time we smell smoke, every time there's wind, we're always on high alert.

>> NARRATOR: The fire stopped just on the edge of town, barely sparing the Palakikos' house.

But it scorched over 20 structures and more than 2,000 acres of land.

>> There were no warning sirens.

Many people reported they didn't get warnings on their cell phones.

It burned through hundreds of acres of land.

Luckily, that time nobody died.

But there was a community uproar after that.

>> NARRATOR: At a community meeting, residents confronted Maui officials over concerns that the county was unprepared for a major wildfire.

>> It was a very tense moment that day in 2018, especially for my family.

>> NARRATOR: One of the residents at the meeting was community leader Ke'eaumoku Kapu.

He says he had been sounding the alarm about disaster preparedness to county officials.

>> We're not from Lahaina; we're of Lahaina.

a part of the life and legacy that, you know, began here is a pa--, that runs through our blood.

Nobody ever took it, you know, important enough to really sit all of us down to say "Okay, how, how can we or what can we do to help with this situation?"

I feel like I'm a part of that problem.

I yelled and screamed all these years, but nobody was listening.

Now that this has happened, I blame myself.

>> After the 2018 fire, the Maui Emergency Management Agency did an after-action review.

And then they buried it.

Nobody saw it for years until after this fire.

None of people's concerns about sirens and about warnings and about evacuations were in the report; it was more superficial things that wouldn't necessarily have prevented this August fire.

>> NARRATOR: No one from MEMA would agree to an interview.

But Hawai'i's current governor, Josh Green, acknowledges the missed opportunity.

>> The fire in 2018 probably should have been viewed more as kind of the canary in the coal mine.

And that was an opportunity to see where global warming was and what the risk was for Maui.

>> NARRATOR: Even before the 2018 fire, the wildfire risks in Hawai'i had been growing, as rainfall decreased and temperatures rose.

And Maui, in particular, experienced some of the worst drought conditions in the state.

>> Being born and raised in Lahaina, we have seen our mountains green all throughout our childhood.

The agriculture is perfect out here.

It's pristine land.

We had the water.

Lahaina was known as the Venice of the Pacific.

So it's really the prime area for farming and just thriving.

>> NARRATOR: For centuries, Maui's landscape had been mostly resistant to fires, as native Hawaiians harnessed streams to irrigate crops and maintain native vegetation.

That changed in the mid-19th century, when Maui's economy began to rely mostly on sugarcane and plantations diverted water from streams to sustain their crops.

>> It takes 2,000 pounds of water to make a single pound of sugar.

The fields are set on fire to ease the task of harvesting.

The heat of the burning doesn't harm the juicy stalks at all.

>> Every time they would harvest, they would light the, the mountains on fire.

That was never something that the population feared or worried about.

It never got out of control.

The land was saturated.

So even though the streams were diverted, the land was being farmed, and it was wet.

>> NARRATOR: Over time, plantations declined and abandoned tens of thousands of acres of land.

>> Typically, these lands were under either plantation agriculture or grazing over the past century and a half.

When you hit about the 1950s and '60s, that no longer becomes economical.

What happens in those lands over the subsequent years is they get filled in with these weeds: Guinea grass, buffelgrass, haole koa, the kind of set of these invasive species that we're dealing with from a, from fire risk perspective, these are the ones we worry about.

>> NARRATOR: As tourism replaced sugar as Maui's top industry, thousands of acres of former plantation land-- some now publicly owned, others in private hands-- were left unmanaged.

>> You can imagine that the amount of land and the amount of money you can make from developing a hotel, for example, it's a much smaller footprint than thousands of acres of sugarcane.

When you stop managing lands, what fills in are these highly fire-prone plant species, and they just prime that landscape to burn.

>> NARRATOR: The water diversion system that once irrigated cane fields now funnels it to other places, including hotels, golf courses and luxury homes, while the unmanaged land grows drier.

>> To see that town just literally wiped out, burnt down to the foundations, and then you drive a mile north, and you're looking at water features.

You're looking at golf courses and water fountains, and, and it's such an obvious contradiction that we're not doing what we need to do.

>> NARRATOR: There have been more than 80 wildfires on Maui in the past 20 years, at least 28 in the area around Lahaina.

As the frequency and severity of fires have grown, the county and state have been repeatedly advised to invest more money in prevention and preparedness.

>> Many government reports had pointed out the fire risk to West Maui and had pointed out the weaknesses in our system that could have allowed something like this to happen.

Those warnings really weren't heeded by the county, which is in the driver's seat for these sorts of things, or by the state.

(piano playing) >> ♪ I, the Lord of sea and sky ♪ ♪ I have heard my people cry ♪ ♪ All who dwell in dark and sin... ♪ >> Thank you, family and friends, for being here.

My name is Clifford Abihai, and I am one of Louise's 11 grandchildren.

She was an amazing, energetic woman.

No matter where she went, she'll always make friends.

>> NARRATOR: 97-year-old Louise Abihai was one of seven neighbors Sanford Hill lost from Hale Mahaolu Eono.

The majority of the Lahaina fire victims were aged 60 or older.

>> Why didn't the county of Maui and the state of Hawai'i, after the 2018 fire, do anything?

Why didn't they prepare something, some kind of notification system, some kind of firefighting system, some improvement of their infrastructure, so they could deal with what they knew was coming, instead of just leaving it to luck, leaving it to hope, "Well, we hope it doesn't happen."

>> NARRATOR: It took more than a month to extinguish the Lahaina fire.

But the backlash over the response began immediately.

>> All right.

Okay.

>> You are... >> All right.

Show respect.

>> Do you regret not sounding the sirens?

>> I, I do not.

And the reason why, and... >> So many people have said they could have been saved... >> NARRATOR: One of the most contentious issues was the warning sirens.

>> Do you want him to give you the answer or do you want do it?

Well, then, let him finish the-- let him finish his answer.

>> Sorry, there's a lot of people... >> Well, you're talking, and you're not letting him talk.

>> The sirens, as I had mentioned earlier, is used primarily for tsunamis, and that's the reason why many of them are found, almost all of them are found, on the coastline.

The public is trained to seek higher ground in the event that the siren is sounded.

And if that was the case, then they would have gone into the fire.

>> NARRATOR: The head of MEMA, Herman Andaya, ended up resigning under mounting criticism.

Governor Josh Green would go on to encourage officials around the state to use emergency sirens for wildfires in the future.

And he ordered a wide-ranging investigation into Maui County's response.

>> There are so many challenges in a fire like this.

And it was the speed and ferocity of, of the fire that ultimately took Lahaina.

But that doesn't mean they couldn't have done better.

We owe answers to everyone.

And we also owe it to ourselves to be ready, um, for the next tragedy or the next, uh, challenge.

The conditions that made this tragedy possible were years in the making.

>> NARRATOR: When the state's report was released, it cited a years-long underinvestment in wildfire prevention, preparedness, and response capacity.

It said that there had been insufficient preparation in the days leading up to the fire.

And on that day, a broad cascade of failures, including a lack of central coordination and leadership that left first responders under-resourced and disorganized.

In statements to "Frontline," the Maui Police Department acknowledged an urgent need for stronger communication and coordination and said they've identified dozens of ways to improve emergency response.

The Fire Department defended its efforts that day and its commitment to fire prevention.

And Maui County commended first responders for saving lives despite being outmatched by extreme weather and fire conditions.

It said it has taken numerous actions, including adding more than 40 new fire and MEMA positions.

But even before the report's release, Mayor Bissen had pushed back on criticism of the county, especially that it hadn't acted quickly enough to access extra resources from the state.

>> How do you respond to criticism that there was a general lack of sense of urgency among the county... >> There was no lack of urgency.

We were focusing on what was important.

I think you're focusing on the wrong thing.

Because I think the real question is "Was help getting to the people who needed the help?"

We had lots of things going on and lots of decisions that were being made.

>> I think the question that you're asking is, why didn't Maui activate earlier during the fire and have all hands on deck?

And I think that was the communication, uh, deficit.

And it was tragic.

That's just obvious to all of us.

As a governor, I always think you should err on the side of extra support and ask for extra help.

And perhaps that was their, uh, largest failure was not asking for more help in the moment.

>> NARRATOR: In October 2024, a report by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives confirmed that Hawaiian Electric's downed power line by the Lahainaluna school had sparked the fire when the company tried to restore power that morning.

The report added to public criticism of the company for not having a plan that preemptively shuts off power during extreme weather events, like some utilities do in fire-prone states.

>> We, like most utilities, don't have that program.

And it's worth noting that, even in places where this has been used, it is controversial, and it's not universally accepted.

>> NARRATOR: Hawaiian Electric would not agree to an interview, citing pending lawsuits from residents and Maui County.

In July 2024, it changed course and put in place a power safety shut-off plan.

And it has replaced many of Lahaina's wooden poles with metal ones.

In a statement, the company expressed regret, but disputed criticism it didn't coordinate clearly with the police during the fire and said it did the best it could under extraordinary circumstances.

The Lahaina fire destroyed more than 2,000 structures.

And it took months to identify those who perished.

More than 40 people-- over one-third of the victims-- died in Kuhua Camp.

>> We were stuck right over there.

That's where the wires had fell.

We couldn't go that way, fire was coming from that way.

The mill yard was already on fire.

We took a right coming out of there and we were stopped by the wires and by all the cars that were piled up.

>> NARRATOR: The neighborhood was particularly vulnerable because of its tight layout, dead ends, and few roads out.

>> That particular neighborhood should have been kept up with the times.

Roads should have been expanded, infrastructure should have been improved.

>> NARRATOR: Since the fire, county officials have pledged to add evacuation routes as they rebuild the neighborhood.

>> Kind of brings little triggers, like when you smell something burning.

See smoke, you hear see sirens, it kind of really messes with everything.

I'm, I'm very, very blessed to be here to even talk to you guys, I know that for a fact.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Just two months after the fire, the Lahaina area began reopening for tourism, while many residents were still being housed in hotels.

>> The government has said they've housed over 8,000 people, and that there's 6,700 people still in the hotels.

And they move them around from hotel to hotel.

The difference between the victims and everybody else is traumatic.

>> NARRATOR: Among the thousands of residents who lost their homes was restaurant owner Lily Nguyen.

She has been living with another fire victim and cooking meals for the community.

(indistinct conversation) >> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

Enjoy!

>> Thank you.

♪ ♪ >> I lost everything-- my business, my house, my car.

All I have is one dress left, that's it.

(voice breaking): The last two weeks I cannot sleep.

I keep thinking, like, where am I going to end up?

Really, I don't know what to do.

(sniffles) (crying, sniffles) >> NARRATOR: More permanent housing options have been limited in what is one of the most expensive counties in America.

Around a third of the housing stock in Lahaina and the surrounding area are short-term vacation rentals catering to tourists, and the decision to reopen for them was controversial.

>> We face an existential problem.

Most of our economy is driven by visitors and travelers.

Had people got the mistaken impression that all of Hawai'i was unavailable to travel to, we could have seen billions and billions of dollars go away.

A governor has to find whatever way they can to help their economy and keep people going.

>> Before 2023 fire and 2018 fire, we were already dealing with a major housing crisis here in Maui and Hawai'i.

This 2023 fire displacing 11,000 more people, it put the problem that was in the back of our minds, it threw it right on the table.

(indistinct talking) The stories from our community affirm that converting short-term rentals into long-term homes is a vital and transformative move that can pos-- can positively shape the future of Lahaina.

>> NARRATOR: Jordan Ruidas runs a group called Lahaina Strong that has been advocating for long-term housing for fire victims.

For several months, they occupied a popular tourist beach calling for an end to thousands of short-term rentals.

>> We choose Kaanapali Beach for the occupation because it's in the middle of the state's beloved tourism mecca, you know.

So, where we are, you can't turn a blind eye.

This is our chance to have Lahaina rebuilt how we, the people of Lahaina, want to see it.

So we just have to stick with it and fight this good fight and see it through.

(ukulele strumming, singing in Hawaiian) >> NARRATOR: As another dry season approached last spring, Mayor Bissen vowed to help improve the housing situation and touted the ongoing recovery efforts.

>> With housing at a historical... at a historic crisis level, and with rents skyrocketing far beyond reasonable affordability for our people and worsening our island's crisis, I am prioritizing actions to increase housing units, rent stabilization, and taking action on short-term rentals.

We will not stop working until each and every survivor is returned to a place they can call home.

This is my personal commitment to you.

>> NARRATOR: But the county and state are still grappling with a long-standing issue-- managing the island's highly flammable vegetation, a key factor that contributed to the magnitude of the fire.

>> One of the complexities about taking care of these lands and, and taking actions that would reduce fire risk is, um, the tenure, right?

So that's a mix of ownership.

You have private lands, you have state lands, you know, municipal lands.

And so it's, it's... becomes a pretty complex patchwork of who owns what.

>> NARRATOR: The official investigation into the fire called out large private landowners and the state and county for failing to adequately manage fire-prone vegetation on their lands, despite the known risks.

And Hawaiian Electric brought a lawsuit against Maui County over the issue.

>> I can tell you what we're doing right now is to make sure that doesn't happen again, that we address the issues, whether they pre-existed, or whether they occurred on August 8.

And I, I gotta apologize that there are some things I obviously can't discuss with you because they're pending lawsuits.

What's important is what we control right now, and what we can do about it, and we're doing everything we can.

>> NARRATOR: Since the fire, the state has hired organizations to clear invasive grasses and create fire breaks.

It has also dramatically increased fines and penalties for fire code violations.

>> We've always had difficult times hiring people to do some of the work that you might think is not as critical.

In retrospect, prevention is always critical.

And we're now hiring up, of course.

We now have kind of an environmental corps.

But when there hasn't been a fire, to put large amounts of resources into an area that people will say, "Well, that can't be your top priority" is what usually happens.

I hope that this is one of those lessons that changes the way people think.

>> NARRATOR: For many who've been looking closely at the Lahaina fire and its aftermath, how Hawai'i is going to fare in the future is an open question.

It may mean some changes to the way the island's land and water are currently being used.

(birds chirping) >> If you want to change this landscape from this dry grasslands, you're going to need to use water.

You're going to need people that are working those lands, have knowledge of, of what they want to do on those lands to be able to do it.

>> NARRATOR: In the Kaua'ula Valley, Charlie and Lauren Palakiko grow kalo, a traditional Hawaiian crop.

It is a sustainable way of using water and agriculture to make the land less prone to fires.

>> Everything thrives off of this freshwater resource.

So the saturation of the land, of course it produces greenery on the land, which keeps things from burning when there's fires.

>> Water is life.

This was a desert at one time, this place.

Until this water would reach and we watched them transform to what it is today, you know?

>> Well, I think some things that we're learning from these fires is being proactive in managing our land and our resources better.

Because we're the people of this land, we know this land, and we know the people here.

So it should be of utmost important for the politicians to come and feel this land, to walk around with us and see what we have here, what's working and what's not.

>> The wildfires that swept tragically on both sides of our luau ravaged our entire town, and now we are all that is left of Front Street.

At this time, I'd like to ask everybody to join us in a moment of silence and acknowledgement of the fires and all that was lost.

>> NARRATOR: In August 2024, without admitting liability, the state, county, Hawaiian Electric and several large landowners agreed to a $4 billion settlement with victims of the fire.

But insurance companies, who have already paid over $2 billion, are challenging the settlement in court.

>> People will spend a lifetime guessing at what could have been done.

Probably a lot of people's fate was sealed decades ago, when roads were allowed to be too narrow, when we allowed ourselves to be, like much of the world, a tourist economy and not spend more time on ecologic solutions.

The world will have to ask itself that question: what's the priority?

And if the priority is a more balanced economy with the environment, more people will be safe.

So everyone should expect a slightly different Hawai'i.

I think Hawai'i is going to focus more on our culture and the beauty of the land.

It's going to focus a little less on uninhibited economic activity.

>> NARRATOR: Lahaina Strong ended up removing their protest camp from the beach after Maui pledged to convert 7,000 short-term rentals to permanent housing.

But more than 1,500 families have left the island, including Sanford Hill.

>> I'm out of aloha.

I'm sorry.

You know, it's like, that's just the way it is.

Lahaina is gone.

It'll never be the Lahaina that I was living in ever again.

♪ ♪ >> I think we tend to think of disasters as bad things that happen to other people.

This was a really big wake-up call for us.

And I think it should be for other communities around the U.S. as well.

We have to plan, we have to look ahead, we have to be smart.

This is just gonna happen more and more, and we need to pay attention.

♪ ♪ Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org >> For more on this and other "FRONTLINE" programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline.

♪ ♪ FRONTLINE's "Maui's Deadly Firestorm" is available on Amazon Prime Video.

♪ ♪