Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
Prime US TV
  • 2 days ago
Survival Mode Season 1 Episode 2
#PrimeUSTV
🎞 Please join
https://t.me/CinemaSeriesUSFilm

Category

😹
Fun
Transcript
00:00Take a look at the images that are coming into the newsroom tonight.
00:17They are truly like something out of a disaster movie.
00:21Powerful winds, smoke, all of it creating a dangerous situation on Maui.
00:25Oh my God.
00:26Oh my God, bro.
00:27Everything was on fire all around us.
00:29It was something none of us had ever seen.
00:31You gotta go!
00:33We're surrounded by fire on both ends.
00:35We can't get out.
00:37I told my wife, don't try to save me.
00:39Otherwise, you're gonna die too.
00:42And I say, please, don't go.
00:44I don't wanna lose you.
00:46There's a family.
00:47I said, you need to come in.
00:48Just come in the water.
00:50And he said, they don't know how to swim.
00:52Nobody knows the trouble we're in.
00:55There's a lot of us out here.
00:56And if somebody doesn't come rescue us, we could die.
00:59Get out of line, the entire city.
01:01No other place in the world is like Maui.
01:15It's definitely one of the most beautiful places in the world.
01:20And each part of the island has its own little personality, its own little thing kind of going on.
01:25I would not choose to live anywhere else.
01:30All of my roots are here in Lahaina on Maui.
01:33And it's such a relaxing island.
01:36Lahaina's on the shoreline on the west side.
01:38And you can find a beach almost anywhere you drive.
01:42Front Street, it's probably less than a half a mile where all the stores and restaurants and everything is.
01:48It overlooks a beautiful seawall.
01:50It's almost the ultimate small town.
01:54It is cute.
01:57It is weird.
01:58It is historically so rich.
02:02And it's just kind of funky.
02:05But it's got such deep roots.
02:07Now let's roll a little bit farther out into the Pacific.
02:15And we've still got a pretty powerful, small but powerful hurricane named Dora.
02:21What do you need to know about Dora?
02:23Category 4 now, tracked well south of Hawaii.
02:25So really the only issue for us will be the winds and dry conditions.
02:30Dry conditions plus wind is not good because you can easily start fires.
02:34My wife Chrissy, she had actually been watching the storm for a while.
02:42We are both captains.
02:44We met in the harbor in Lahaina Harbor.
02:46And we had just put our brand new boat into the harbor.
02:50We had started this new company and we put every penny we had into our boat.
02:56So we were watching the storm extra closely.
02:58Being a boat captain for 25 years, I'm obsessed with weather.
03:02I've been tracking this system about 10 days out.
03:06And as it approached Hawaii, I got more and more worried.
03:10So I knew we were going to get some weather.
03:12I knew we were going to get some wind.
03:14But we had no idea what was coming at us.
03:17We have a home-based doggy boarding, grooming, and daycare that we run here on the island.
03:32We both have loved dogs our whole life, have worked with dogs, and we decided to go after what we enjoy.
03:40Kind of start that business together.
03:42This is my passion.
03:45I first started in New York and I moved to Hawaii.
03:50I love what I do.
03:54On that morning, I woke up probably about 7 o'clock.
03:57Our electric was off, which sometimes happens.
04:00I never take it too seriously.
04:01But I heard how much our windows were shaking.
04:06So I knew that there were some really heavy winds.
04:09I was scared because it was windy, but I thought we were safe.
04:14For some reason, my spidey sense was going off that something is not right.
04:20In my entire life, living here on the islands, I've never seen winds as high as that was.
04:26The trees were starting to just sway back and forth.
04:29Telephone poles were leaned across the street.
04:34We knew that something was not right that morning.
04:42It was an extremely busy day.
04:45We were getting a lot of calls.
04:46Roofs being blown off, trees being blown over, power lines down.
04:509-1-1.
04:52There's debris flying.
04:53It's really scary.
04:54What are we supposed to do?
04:55We cannot be running around.
04:57It was probably about 2.30 p.m.
05:01Emma said, you know, I don't feel right about the weather.
05:04Like, I just felt weird.
05:05And I felt like we needed to go check on the boat.
05:08We needed to go down to the harbor to check on things.
05:11So we did.
05:13As we headed to the harbor, the wind was just relentless.
05:18Things were deteriorating as soon as we got there.
05:23There were boats that the wind had actually pushed under the docks, and then the tide rose, and so they were stuck.
05:30Some were, like, calling their owners and trying to, like, let them know.
05:33That's when we started to see the town actually come apart.
05:39Signs were dangling.
05:41Awnings were ripped off.
05:42We were constantly getting hit with debris while we were in the harbor.
05:45We actually saw one of our friends got hit in the head with a shingle.
05:49You know, like, roofs are coming off.
05:51And then we heard there might be a fire starting.
05:559-1-1, what is your emergency?
05:58Hi, I'm calling out a fire on the head of the earth.
06:01It just started.
06:03Are you seeing flames?
06:05Yes, lots of them.
06:08We got the call for the initial brush fire.
06:10We had units all the way around it.
06:12The visibility wasn't so good, so there was a lot of smoke, so you couldn't really see everything that was going on.
06:17I mean, it was really windy, but, you know, we'd been to brush fires that size dozens and dozens of times before.
06:23I think with the wind and the weather, I don't think we were prepared to deal with the type of fire behavior we were getting from that.
06:29It was something none of us had ever seen.
06:33Fire was taking off so fast, like, within 10 minutes, it just seemed like every house on both sides of the street were all on fire.
06:40I decided to go and check out the neighborhood.
06:43I hop in my truck, get up to the first road, which is less than 30 seconds, make a right, and then everything is on fire.
06:51People were running out of their houses that were already on fire with their kids.
06:57People were screaming.
07:00People didn't know where to go.
07:02Oh, my God.
07:02People just fleeing for their lives.
07:04So I immediately knew that, you know, our house was going to be in this line of fire.
07:09From the very beginning, it was survival mode.
07:11That morning on August 8th, I was done work.
07:34I do an overnight shift at this recovery treatment center.
07:38And I got home.
07:41I wanted to sleep.
07:44So I fell asleep.
07:46And later on, a roommate of mine woke me up, yelling, hey, where's all that smoke coming from?
07:52I came storming out, and Micah was in the driveway.
07:59Micah's my nephew.
08:01And we look up, and we see these black smokes just roaring through the air.
08:06And at that point, we decided that we got to go.
08:10So we hopped into my vehicle.
08:12And traffic was just bumper to bumper, heading up north.
08:20The roads going south were blocked because of the telephone poles and trees that were down.
08:25There was no way we were going to get through that way.
08:28The police officers were directing everyone to go down to Front Street.
08:35911.
08:36I am on Front Street right now, and there is a house on fire.
08:40We are caught in massive traffic, and where the ashes are engulfing our car.
08:45I remember it in bits and pieces, and I can picture in my head these certain stages where the fire's at.
08:49I remember looking down at Lahaina Town and just seeing a massive cloud of black smoke.
08:57I just remember thinking, that's just one giant structure fire.
09:01We're not stopping this.
09:02I think the point at which I started to be like, something is terribly wrong here, was when we heard explosions.
09:14And then after that, very quickly, the black smoke started to fill in.
09:19We take a firefighting course to get the license that I have for ships.
09:23And so, one thing that we're taught is, what does this certain color of smoke mean?
09:27So, when I saw black smoke, that told me that structures were on fire.
09:33Oh, my God.
09:36It's daytime.
09:38It's nighttime.
09:39We see Fleetwoods on fire, which is a very old, historical building on Front Street.
09:46And when we saw the explosion from the upper roof, we knew we were in trouble.
09:51Because if this iconic, old, historical building is going to burn, and we don't have 100 firefighters on it,
10:00we knew that nobody's coming to help us.
10:03When I saw the house was already on fire with people running out of it,
10:11I immediately knew, like, this is a fast-moving fire.
10:16I back up over somebody's yard, make a three-point turn, head back to the house.
10:21I run back inside, scaring my wife because of how fast I opened that door.
10:26Like, we need to go now.
10:28Since we run a doggy daycare and boarding out of our home, we had five dogs with us that day.
10:34We gathered the dogs, put on their leashes, put them all in the truck as fast as we possibly could,
10:39and then we took off.
10:43I was thinking, okay, we're going to lose our house, but we're going to be safe.
10:49I don't think nothing's going to happen with us.
10:52We started going down our road, and I realized now the fire is up the mountain,
10:57so I can't go up the mountain to the right, and to my left on the highway was an officer blocking the road.
11:03He was in a panic.
11:05So I was forced to now just go down Front Street.
11:10You can just see this dark gray smoke starting to cover the town,
11:16but we were just all stuck in traffic.
11:18Everybody was trying to flee and didn't know where to go.
11:20And then I see the fire getting closer and closer.
11:24It looked like I already jumped the highway at this point, which is, like, less than 100 yards from us.
11:29Now you have people driving opposite lanes to get away from the fire, oncoming traffic,
11:35people driving up on the sidewalk, people with their motorcycles driving in and out of traffic,
11:40and you're feeling this intense kind of heat.
11:43And I realized that where we were waiting to go is now on fire.
11:47We cannot move.
11:50It's a lot of car, and we can see the fire.
11:53This time, I say, now we need to worry, because I don't think we're going to survive.
11:58We managed to get to the end of Front Street, the end of the seawall, where everything began.
12:11We heard an explosion, and that explosion launched some fireballs up to another house.
12:19And next thing you know, the house caught on fire, and I finally said,
12:26Micah, we need to abandon the car.
12:30And we went down to the seawall.
12:33It was pitch black.
12:35It made Lahaina look like it was midnight.
12:36You couldn't see two feet in front of you.
12:38At that point is when I met Visay and his family.
12:44He had his wife and his five kids.
12:47Looking at his family, they were so terrified.
12:51We were okay for about 10 minutes, and then the heat started to get really, really bad.
12:56And I looked at Visay, and I said, you need to bring your family in the water.
13:02And he said, I can't.
13:05They're not going to come.
13:06They don't know how to swim.
13:16Silent emergency.
13:18Everybody's trapped.
13:19Everybody's trapped.
13:20We just can't get out.
13:22There's no way out.
13:23Propane tanks were blowing off all over the place.
13:27Explosions going on everywhere.
13:30Everybody was totally overwhelmed.
13:32We couldn't get to Front Street because we were trying to stop the north and south progression of the fire.
13:37And even if we did have unlimited resources, it was pretty much at the mercy of the wind.
13:45I have to admit that I was almost in denial that our town was burning down,
13:49and I wasn't in a rush to get out of the harbor.
13:53And at that point, when I snapped out of it was probably when Emma looked at me.
13:58It was this look of fear that no one should ever see their partner go through.
14:05It broke me to see her, you know, be so afraid.
14:10There's a flamethrower bearing down on you, essentially.
14:16And then your other choice is going out to sea and facing 80-mile-an-hour winds.
14:22And so that's not an easy decision to make.
14:25We didn't see the Coast Guard.
14:27We didn't see any other help.
14:28If anything went wrong and you get swept away to sea, who's going to know?
14:37There was no one, no, like, help was coming.
14:40And we just needed to do what we could to save ourselves and those around us.
14:43And so that was the decision that we made.
14:45My only goal was to get Emma out safe and whoever else was around there that I could get out as well,
14:52just to make sure that we lived.
14:54All of a sudden, traffic just jams up.
15:02Everybody stops.
15:03Then I see the fire getting closer and closer.
15:06Everything is out of fat still.
15:07Front street is out of fat still.
15:08They're backed up and the fire is moving fast.
15:11So now it's time to get out and start running the opposite way.
15:16We got the five dogs with us.
15:18My wife was carrying some.
15:20I was carrying some.
15:21And we just started going as fast as we could.
15:24And I'm thinking, we're surrounded by all wood.
15:27We're surrounded by fuel for this fire.
15:29We've got to get to the long stretch of seawall and an ocean that we can get away from those buildings.
15:35The smoke was the thickest smoke that I've ever seen.
15:38It was very hard to see the dogs.
15:41The only thing I could see is maybe like a couple feet in front of me.
15:43I could mostly see the white dogs.
15:46And that's the first I grabbed was two white dogs.
15:49And then the other three, I didn't know exactly where they were,
15:52but I could feel the heat coming on me.
15:55And I could already feel my eyes like burning or it was making it very difficult to see.
16:01And then we made that decision just to jump the wall and try to get down as far as we could.
16:08But you could literally feel the embers hitting us.
16:11And we could barely breathe.
16:13My wife was definitely in a panic.
16:26And I remember telling her that I love her.
16:28Because at that point, I thought we were probably going to die.
16:31We're surrounded by fire, and then there's so much smoke going out into the ocean.
16:36If we jump in the ocean, too, we might die out there.
16:39I'm not a good swimmer.
16:44And I saw a lot of people in the water try to survive.
16:50I remember a family there with, I think, three kids and a baby.
16:55And the boy said to her mom,
16:57Mom, I don't want to die.
16:59I don't want to die.
17:00We were so scared because Mike said we're not going to make it.
17:09If anybody need to find this, it's okay.
17:13We're going to take it.
17:16I called my mom, told her I loved her, said, you know,
17:19I'm not sure if we're going to make it out of this.
17:21We are surrounded by fire.
17:22And Michael calls me, and he tells me that he's getting ready to jump in the water.
17:26I could hear people screaming in the background.
17:29I could hear people crying.
17:30I could hear the ocean.
17:31I could hear the waves.
17:32I just prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed.
17:35She kept on asking, what can I do?
17:37And all I said, you know, just send help.
17:39And then that's when everything just started to really explode.
17:47It was starting to hit some of these propane tanks.
17:50So then I realized I can't get all the dogs in the water.
17:53He said, we have to jump in the water
17:56because if we don't jump, we're not going to survive.
17:59There's a family, and they need help.
18:12I looked at Visai.
18:15I told him, go grab your son.
18:19Let me grab him and bring him in the water.
18:21And he said his wife was not going to come in.
18:27I looked at her, and I said, ma'am, you need to come in.
18:30Just come in the water.
18:31If not, you're going to burn.
18:32At that point, he grabbed her, and we brought her out in the water
18:37along with the rest of his kids.
18:41I didn't know how far out we needed to go,
18:44and we were close enough to shore to get hit by the debris that was flying around.
18:49The winds were gusting really, really fast.
18:54Every time we heard an explosion, it launched a red flame somewhere else.
18:59We were in the water in front of Bubba Gumpts on the seawall.
19:02And at that point, just before Bubba Gumpts went up in flames,
19:07a big gust of wind came through and blew one of the plywoods off of the building.
19:12And I just so happened glanced and saw that plywood in the ocean about 20 yards away from us.
19:19I went and got the plywood, and I said, this plywood is going to save our life.
19:28911 emergency. How can I help you?
19:30My mom and my baby are still up on the final lunar road.
19:35911.
19:36You guys don't come now, we're going to die.
19:37Where are you folks at?
19:39We're on the harbor.
19:40Go into the water.
19:42That is going to be your best and safest place.
19:45Yes, ma'am.
19:46And is there any way we can get rescued by boat or anything?
19:58That was absolutely the most intense fire situation I've ever been in.
20:02Nothing compares to that.
20:04These gusts would come through that were just, they were so strong,
20:07it felt like it was going to blow you off your feet.
20:09And you would just be in this intense ember wash,
20:11and debris and dust would just be flying in your face, smoke.
20:14And I remember just having to just tuck up behind the truck.
20:18And there was quite a few of those moments where it's just like,
20:20just coming to the realization that like, you know,
20:23nothing we're doing is going to have any effect.
20:26Police!
20:31Fire!
20:32Guys, we got to clear everybody else.
20:34Everybody evacuate!
20:36Oh my God.
20:36Oh my God, bro.
20:37Just go, Dad, just go.
20:38At that point, getting our boat out didn't matter.
20:44Saving ourselves and saving whoever was around us,
20:48that was really what mattered.
20:51It was kind of panic mode because the smoke was so much,
20:54I couldn't even see, I couldn't even breathe.
20:56The only safety, which is bizarre in 80-mile-an-hour winds,
21:00is to go out to sea, go onto the ocean.
21:04Maybe we could have gotten our boat out with the horsepower that we have,
21:08but there were other people that tried to back out,
21:11and because of the wind, they actually could not get out of the slit.
21:15They could not get out of the harbor.
21:17So I said goodbye to my boat.
21:19I grabbed a small 10-foot skiff.
21:22It's not even my boat.
21:23I just took it, and keep in mind,
21:25nobody wants to take a 10-foot boat out into hurricane-force winds,
21:30but it was a smaller, more maneuverable vessel.
21:35And so we drive out of the harbor.
21:37It was just this moment of shock and now survival
21:41because we're now downwind of all of these explosions.
21:45And at that point, Emma looked at me, and she said,
21:48Chrissy, the harbor's gone.
21:53And I stared at Vesai's eyes because I was across the board from him,
21:57and they were kind of panicking because when we moved out,
22:14we couldn't touch bottom.
22:15And I stared at Vesai's eyes because I was across the board from him,
22:22and I did see fear in him, and I don't blame him because that's his family.
22:28I had his son, and he was terrified.
22:32He clung onto my neck just super tight.
22:36There were people in the water with dogs,
22:38older people, younger people, all kinds of ages was in the water.
22:42I just scared.
22:44We had to cover our whole head with our shirts because we couldn't breathe.
22:48That scared me.
22:49That made me think that, you know, we might not make it out of here.
22:53At about four hours in, I lost Micah, my nephew, in the water somewhere.
23:01I lost track of him, and I needed to find him.
23:05I said, Vesai, I need to give you back your son.
23:10I need to go find my nephew.
23:12But I said, as soon as I get to shore, I will make sure for you guys to get rescued.
23:18Because I knew how to swim, I was a surf instructor for seven years.
23:29I believe that had a lot to do with me being able to work my way to shore,
23:34away from all of the flames that were catching up.
23:38I finally made it to the shoreline, and I got up to the front street,
23:42and I ran into a police officer, and I said,
23:44Officer, you need to go in front of Bubba Gump's wall.
23:48There's a family, and they need help.
23:50And he said, OK, we'll get help.
23:53I ended up walking to my sister's house, which is about five miles up north.
23:58When I knocked on the door, I said, is Micah here?
24:00And they said, no, he's not.
24:01And at that point, we were terrified.
24:10So at that point, I had two dogs.
24:12And the other three, I didn't know exactly where they were.
24:15We start to swim out, and I have the two dogs.
24:19And once we're out in that water, you know, we're now even getting hit by the embers in the water.
24:24So I remember kept on having to dunk underwater because my back and my neck were getting burned.
24:31We can only tread water for so long in with these dogs.
24:34What do I do?
24:35Do I move closer to the fire and get a little bit burned and not drown?
24:40Or do I get further away from the fire, not get as burned, and then possibly drown?
24:47We are so deep for me, not for Mike.
24:51And I say, Mike, I don't know.
24:53I can't make it.
24:57He said, we're going to make it.
25:03We're going to survive this.
25:05There was times where I started to go under, and I told my wife that if I started to go under again and I don't come back up, or if I'm drowning, don't try to save me.
25:19Otherwise, you're going to die, too.
25:21I want you to just save yourself.
25:23But it was surreal and straight up like out of a war zone because you're still hearing all these explosions.
25:29You're feeling like the shockwave from it going off.
25:32You're feeling the cars explode.
25:34And when the cars explode, you don't know if that next one's going to be the one that's right next to you.
25:41We were starting to fall asleep in the water.
25:43And I realized if we fall asleep, we're dead out here.
25:46So even though it's more dangerous on that shore right now, let's get back over there, find a spot, and just tuck our heads into the rocks.
25:53Mike said, I have to check the dogs and just see if I can find them.
26:02And I say, OK, go.
26:05Now's the time, like, I can actually, Mike, be able to get up and get them without dying.
26:10They have to be somewhere along this line.
26:12So then I start going down Front Street.
26:15I start yelling the dogs' names, you know, Asher, Rocket.
26:20Asher, Rocket.
26:21You know, and I kept on coming back.
26:24I kept on being more and more out of breath and getting, like, sick and vomiting.
26:28And I would get my composure, and then I would go back.
26:31Rocket.
26:32When he come back again, he cannot breathe.
26:36And I say, please, don't go.
26:38Don't go, because I don't want to lose you.
26:41Asher, Rocket.
26:44Because I thought he was going to die at this time.
26:51So the first responders, they weren't just protecting where they work.
27:02They were protecting where they grew up, where they live, where their families live, where their friends are from.
27:07For the people we were with, their houses were burning.
27:09Now, I don't think we really had the time to process it.
27:12We were just basically trying to keep ourselves alive.
27:17We're less than a half mile offshore of the fires and the explosions.
27:21I can see the town is burning.
27:23And at that point, we're not seeing any first responders.
27:27We're not seeing any blue lights.
27:29We're not seeing any red lights.
27:30There's no flashing lights anywhere.
27:31We said, okay, we're going to go back to the harbor and see if there's survivors.
27:38Right before we headed out, I'd gotten a call from a TV news reporter.
27:43And she said, Chrissy, I got your number from my auntie.
27:47Can you tell us what's happening?
27:48At that point, my drive to go out and help people was even stronger because nobody knows the trouble we're in.
27:54And I told her, I said, we need help.
27:57People are dying.
27:59There are no first responders.
28:00This is something like on the scale of Pearl Harbor.
28:03The entire town is gone.
28:05We make our turn into the harbor, and it's just this horrible scene.
28:10Everything is on fire.
28:12As we're entering the channel, the surf spot where kids surf, a really popular surf spot, the waves that are breaking are actually on fire.
28:22We don't see any obvious survivors, but we know these vessels next to us are minutes from exploding.
28:28So, throughout the night, I was constantly checking my messages, constantly checking the signal, sending messages to my mom, like, hey, we need help.
28:41Even though it didn't go through, it was loading.
28:43So, if it got a cell phone signal, at least it would send it to her.
28:46All I knew is he was on Front Street somewhere, and that he's surrounded by fire.
28:52The only thing I could think about doing was calling the Coast Guard.
28:55A man named John answered.
28:56He was on it.
28:57He's like, where are they at?
28:59What's their cell phone numbers?
29:00So, Mike, if you could please give the Coast Guard a call.
29:04Our phone number is 808.
29:09My phone starts ringing, and it literally says U.S. Coast Guard.
29:13And my heart just, you know, skipped a beat, like, this is it.
29:16We're going to get rescued.
29:17I picked up the phone, and it was a guy named John.
29:21Hey, is this Michael?
29:22Yes, this is Mike.
29:23I can see you guys.
29:24So, you just see the boat, okay?
29:27We're staring at you in the lights, but we don't see anybody coming in over the break.
29:31You know, that reef out there.
29:33Okay.
29:34And how many are there with you?
29:36How many people are with you?
29:38There's a lot.
29:39There's got to be at least 50 people.
29:41You're 5-0.
29:435-0.
29:44And we're surrounded by fire on both ends.
29:46We can't get out.
29:48John ended up being, like, my voice in the darkness that night
29:52to kind of prepare me what needs to be done so we can get everybody out of there.
29:58Get everyone together.
29:59Everyone you can together, please.
30:01Color Guard's picking us up.
30:02Go, go.
30:03Everybody stay together over there.
30:04Go, go.
30:05Then everybody started to gather their stuff,
30:08and I started to get them into a larger group of people.
30:11Hey, where are you?
30:12I'm here.
30:13Are you okay?
30:15I'm here.
30:16Get, get, you got to get up.
30:17When I was going up to these people,
30:20first I was making sure that they're okay
30:21because some of them, I thought they were dead.
30:23I've seen burns before,
30:25and I've never seen burns that bad
30:27where people look disfigured.
30:30I was trying to get them to come down the sidewalk
30:34and get to the group of people
30:36I started kind of getting together on the north end.
30:39Right here's bad.
30:40There's a lot of smoke.
30:41You got to go.
30:42The water's rough.
30:44The fire's still going.
30:45But at least there's hope.
30:47You're doing great, Michael.
30:48Keep going.
30:48Get as many people as close to the Coast Guard boat
30:50as you can, okay?
30:51If you have a flashlight,
30:53I want everyone to flash their flashlight
30:55towards the Coast Guard boat, okay?
30:57Okay.
30:58Everybody, turn on all your lights.
31:04We heard on the radio,
31:05the Coast Guard made a call that said,
31:07there are people in the water,
31:0850 to 100 people off of Front Street.
31:12So as we're driving around, we see an SOS light.
31:14So we radioed the Coast Guard.
31:15We have an SOS light on shore.
31:18We think we found the survivors.
31:20The Coast Guard couldn't even come in with their boat.
31:23They were a quarter mile plus offshore.
31:25How is it going to help to bring a larger boat in,
31:28run that boat aground,
31:29and then cause another need for emergency response?
31:34I tell the Coast Guard, listen, we're on a small boat.
31:37I know this reef like the back of my hand.
31:40And they said, okay, can you come and get our rescue swimmer?
31:43We said, absolutely.
31:45Sir, are you there?
31:46Yeah, I'm still here.
31:47So we have a rescue swimmer, right?
31:49He's coming to you.
31:50We can't get our boat close enough to you guys.
31:52So more than likely, you guys are going to have to enter the water
31:55with the Coast Guard rescue swimmer, okay?
31:57I realized that I need to step away from the group
32:00because I don't want them to hear what I'm about to say next,
32:03which is everybody's in a panic.
32:06You have people that are scared of water, elderly.
32:09Once I got to the point where I said that there's children out here,
32:14everything just kind of stopped.
32:16He immediately is like, wait, back up.
32:18We have kids down there.
32:19Those kids are the priority.
32:20You need to get them on that boat first.
32:22Make sure everyone knows we're going to prioritize those kids, right?
32:26Okay.
32:30We go and we grab the rescue swimmer and we're heading in
32:33and the backdrop is just, it's all fire.
32:36It was a risky operation, but we were the only vessel
32:40that was small enough to come in over the reef to get to these people.
32:45And then all of a sudden I'm thinking, how are we going to do this?
32:48How are they going to get these people, children, elderly, animals,
32:53how are they going to do all this?
32:55Can you give me a little assessment of what people are looking like?
32:59What's people's status?
33:00How are the kids doing?
33:02People are scared.
33:04People are really scared.
33:04We are on French Street.
33:18There's a lot of us out here.
33:20And if somebody doesn't come rescue us, we could die.
33:23I was speaking to a Coast Guard named John
33:25and he basically said that we have to send in rescue swimmers on paddle boards.
33:30So the weather was pushing our rescue swimmer out
33:33and he's now on the dinghy and coming in with a surf force.
33:37The scene seems very unsafe to send a rescue swimmer in
33:40because there's so much fire.
33:43We were in five feet of water
33:45trying to get as close to the shore as we possibly could.
33:49And I prepared all the parents that I saw that had their kids.
33:51I'm like, so you know, when they come up,
33:53we have to be prepared for them to go out first.
33:56We send the rescue swimmer in and we kind of back out of the surf.
33:59At this point, surf's building.
34:01It's incredibly dangerous.
34:03I see him. I see him. Coast Guard. Can you see him?
34:05Can you see him?
34:05Hey!
34:06Yes, yes. On a paddle board.
34:10Once the rescue swimmer came on shore,
34:12they said, OK, who's coming with us?
34:14Nobody wanted to hop on the boards.
34:16Everybody was scared.
34:18So I went up to those parents and I'm like,
34:20you need to give me your kids.
34:21Like, we need to get them out of here.
34:23And the little girl, I think she was about four years old.
34:26And the boy, I think he was probably about 12 years old.
34:30They're both very scared.
34:31And, you know, all I could do is tell her everything is going to be OK.
34:35Like, this is the best part of the night.
34:37We're being rescued.
34:38She got on that brave face and they took her out
34:41and right into the smoke and the water.
34:44And you don't see them again.
34:45We're watching, we're watching, watching.
34:48And we see the rescue swimmers have two kids with them.
34:51Emma reaches over.
34:52She pulls the kids onto the boat.
34:55So I radio to the Coast Guard.
34:57We've got children.
34:58We head to the Coast Guard vessel.
35:01And Emma puts the kids on the Coast Guard vessel.
35:03At that point, I see a fire truck show up on Front Street.
35:11You know, we heard on the radio that about 50 people
35:14were down there by the Waikiki Brewing Company
35:17that had jumped in the water and needed rescue.
35:19I'm getting a call from the Coast Guard.
35:21And they said there's people that they were trying to assist
35:24getting out of the area.
35:25They're asking for any assistance.
35:27So we went down there with a few apparatus.
35:30You know, we had some lifeguard utility trucks, pickup trucks.
35:33We just jumped in whatever we could get.
35:35Everything was on fire all around us.
35:37Cars in the middle of the road.
35:39So it took us a while to even just be able to figure out
35:41how we can find a path through.
35:44So Park was able to make it down Front Street.
35:46And we're going to be walking.
35:48I see two red lights out in the distance on Front Street.
35:52And I see a fireman just come out of the smoke
35:55like a true hero and just full suit and everything.
35:59And then that's when the fire department got involved
36:02and started to rescue people.
36:03They said to everybody, like, who's going to have trouble walking?
36:06Who's going to have trouble making it through this fire?
36:08Because we've got a ways to walk.
36:09So I got up, held the fireman's jacket, and he helped guide us.
36:15My wife had two dogs.
36:17And we started going down Front Street
36:19with the ocean on our left-hand side, fire on both sides,
36:23still feel the heat, the smoke.
36:25You still can barely see.
36:27After that point, we get up to an F-250,
36:30just an open, regular truck.
36:32And they just going as fast as that truck could possibly go,
36:36where I don't know how they could see
36:37because we had fire all around us.
36:41When we made up for the highway,
36:42I look back at Lahaina Town, and it's just, it's gone.
36:47All the houses, the buildings,
36:49everything that I've known my whole childhood,
36:52my whole entire life,
36:54in one night, was gone.
36:56We had looked for survivors for hours now.
37:06We were running low on fuel.
37:08So we spoke to the Coast Guard.
37:10We said, I think this is our point where we have to depart.
37:15My phone rings, and it's my brother.
37:19And...
37:20You know, he didn't know if I was alive or dead.
37:33And so I'm just telling him,
37:35Joe, I lost everything I built.
37:39My lively, you know, it's gone.
37:40I said the harbor's gone.
37:42Everybody's lost their jobs.
37:44Every, you know, the town is gone.
37:45But I'm still not crying.
37:49And...
37:50My brother said...
37:52Chrissy, everybody knows about it on the news.
37:56And good evening from here in Maui,
37:58where we have just learned that this is now
38:00the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history.
38:03This is the largest natural disaster we've ever experienced.
38:05Experts say that climate change is, no doubt,
38:08partially to blame.
38:09The island of Maui has been unusually dry.
38:12Maui forever changed.
38:13Ever changed as wildfires destroy historic Lahaina town.
38:17That moment, that's when I broke down
38:19when he told me that the world knows that Lahaina's on fire
38:23and that help is coming.
38:26Search and recovery efforts continue.
38:29More than 2,100 people were housed overnight
38:31in county emergency shelters,
38:34with 4,000 tourists flown from Maui to Oahu.
38:38Once we ended up in the shelter,
38:40I see my mom pull up.
38:42And when I saw her,
38:43and it was like one of those moments out of a movie
38:45where we're running to each other,
38:47and then I remember grabbing her
38:49and crying our eyes out.
38:53It was amazing.
38:54We hugged each other.
38:56You know, I love my money, not so much.
39:00To see him for the first time
39:01was the most amazing experience.
39:03Just, he was alive when I thought he was gone.
39:07I just remember even, like,
39:08feeling like I was collapsing into her arms
39:10because I just, like, it's over.
39:12I made it.
39:13This is, this is it.
39:15That's probably one of the harder things
39:24I had to deal with.
39:25And I, I mean, I,
39:27besides seeing people that passed away,
39:30but having a dog that was my responsibility,
39:33that, that I truly did love,
39:36didn't make it, you know,
39:38that's something I do live with.
39:39Like, I'll live with the rest of my life.
39:41And I have nightmares all the time about it.
39:47I was at my sister's house,
39:50and my nephew Micah wasn't there,
39:52and I was starting to get worried.
39:55And about 30 minutes later,
39:57the knock on the door came,
39:58and it was Micah.
40:00He's a good swimmer,
40:01and he said he just made his way all the way out,
40:04and it was a beautiful sight to see him.
40:09I was still worried about what had happened
40:11to that family on the board
40:12and not knowing if they made it out or not.
40:17And apparently they did,
40:19because a couple days later,
40:20I saw the interview at the airport,
40:23and I looked at this man,
40:25and it was beside.
40:28Myself, my wife, and our five kids,
40:30we all got in the ocean.
40:32We were some locals that helped us too,
40:33that were with us.
40:34We're really great people.
40:35These people are amazing.
40:37And when I saw that interview,
40:38it just brought tears to my eyes
40:40that because he said
40:41that his whole family survived
40:43and that they were okay.
40:46And I was super happy.
40:50This would be Psy, take one.
40:52A-B mark, soft slate.
40:53I think about it every day.
40:56Every day.
40:59Kindness.
41:00It's what saved us.
41:02That's from Juby.
41:04She didn't have to help us, but she did.
41:06I could have been dead.
41:09Our family could have been dead.
41:10Why don't you want to leave?
41:13Not too many people get second chances.
41:16We did.
41:16I don't know what made me decide
41:20to stay and help them,
41:21but I did.
41:23And I'm grateful that I did.
41:26I believe in the higher power.
41:32To me, it was my higher power
41:34that saved me
41:35and was able to give me that strength
41:38to save another family's life.
41:40I'm grateful to say
41:49that I am a survivor
41:50and we know
41:52that Lahaina will be rebuilt
41:54and Lahaina will be back
41:55for many, many years to come.
41:59And to all those
42:01that survived the Lahaina fire,
42:03just keep fighting.
42:04Don't give up.
42:04Don't give up.
42:34Don't give up.