>> building a better bay moving forward, finding solutions. this is abc7. kristen: hello, i am kristen sze. you are watching "getting answers." we get answers in real-time. maui's wildfires are as unprecedented as the 2018 campfire in terms of the

magnitude of destruction. we will speak with the fire marshal of the santa rosa fire department to get his take on the similarities and how to protect ourselves in the bay area as we enter the hottest, driest times of the year. also, a movie with special importance to the asian-american community drops today. " love in taipei -- love in taipei," guest. plus, maui faces a catastrophe. 36 people confirmed dead. with fear of the number rising after fast-moving flames overtook the town of lahaina. it is now 80% contained, so better news. many business owners and homeowners do not know their fates because they have not been able to return. among those hoping for the best, ewner of maui animal farm

located in lahaina near the historic downtown that burned. joining us, hiedi den aqui. our hearts go out to you and everyone in maui. >> thank you. we are devastated. we are trying to figure out how to repair the community and get everybody back into place. i have not been able to go to my farm since we were evacuated at 3:00 a.m. on tuesday morning. i am wondering what is next. we are trying to feed animals and get water. it happened so fast we did not have a chance to evacuate. kristen: can you talk to me about that, it happened so fast, the moment you realized there was a raging fire? i know your farm is away from

the historic downtown, but we see the pictures. tell us how you got out. heidi: this started because of dora's wind, passing south of the island. the wind was so strong it was raging down the hill 80 miles per hour or more. i could not even walk. when i tried to feed the animals in the morning, i could barely walk because the wind was so strong. all of a sudden a fire erupted, i think because of a downed power line. i sat on the farm overnight until we evacuated at 3:00 in the morning. i was watching the fire and activity, trying to put it out, but the winds were against us. they were going toward the ocean, which was positive for the farm because it was not coming our way at first, then things shifted. we had to make the choice to

evacuate, so we loaded any pigs, bunnies and tortoises in the trunks. we let the animals go, put phone numbers on their backs, opened their gates, and said, find a safe place. fortunately, but i know the fire is only 80% contained. kristen: did you say you the farm is ok, you were spared? heidi: yeah, somebody had a water truck in the area and they checked on the farm and everything is fine. i do have two large horses running around the neighborhood right now. we are hoping to catch them when we get back into the neighborhood. seem healthy and safe, finding food and water on their own with

streams and grasses in the area. kristen: i hope you get your animals back. what are the services you have? and for folks you need therapy, too? heidi: maui animal farm is a petting zoo from 9:30 until 11:00 and then we have animal therapy, we partner with ada classrooms and children come to the farm, with autism. we work with skills, opening gates, filling water troughs. we are also in the process of therapeutic riding. unfortunately, the wind blew out the riding arena, so we have to reinvest. safety is the most important thing for everyone. my concern is making sure everyone is safe. kristen: i understand you are

near the airport. many people in the airport know that costco, by the way. have you had a chance -- when you were escaping did you see some of the harrowing scenes we have seen in the videos? heidi: we were asked to turn left from my neighborhood, the main road. we did not go toward lahaina. all these pictures i am saying for the first time and i'm devastated by them. [no audio] kristen: we can't hear you. i will give it another 10 seconds and hope you come back to us. heidi, i think we have lost your audio. i know cell service has been challenging in the wake of the fire. oh, you are back. i am happy for it. what do you think the biggest challenges are to the island,

keeping in mind you once worked in the hospitality industry. from that perspective, the destruction of lahaina, what are your challenges? heidi: many people lost their homes and businesses and livelihoods. the key is to come together as a community. i am part of a nonprofit directors association force. we have a meeting once a month. we just had that meeting today. we had maui united way, lahaina habitat for humanity, the homeless shelter, discussing what needs to be done to communicate with the community and get things back on track. it is important to get people into housing. hotels are reaching out that they will help with housing. that is a positive thing. we need to get these people into places. i am displaced as well.

i slept at a friends place last night. was very comfortable and taken care of, but it is scary when you do not have a place to sleep. we need to get people back into homes. kristen: can i ask, do you think for the foreseeable future, the next month, is it better if tours come or not? what is more helpful to maui? heidi: i think the island still needs tourism. other parts can stay on. lahaina will be off limits until he can be rebuilt, but once it is, it is one of the most special places in the world. we will still be doing petting tours. it is a fun thing to do. there are other places like the ocean center, lots of activities. i think we need to give the island a chance to catch up on

social services we need to reinstate. definitely tourism needs to go on. it is our biggest source of the economy. kristen: thank you for joining us. glad to hear you're ok and you have gotten word on some of your animals. for folks interested in supporting your is this it is mauianimalfarm.com. take care. heidi: thank you, have a great day. mahalo. kristen: from one deadly fire to another, we revisit one of the deadliest wildfires in the bay area, the 2017 tubs fire. the similarity between tha

kristen: in the bay area we are no stranger to the devastation of wildfires, but many in maui were taken by surprise. some experts had been warning for years about similarities between our regions and the possibility that maui could see northern california style wildfires. remember the 2017 tubbs fire in santa rosa? at the time it was the most destructive wildfire in california history burning nearly 30,000 -- 37,000 acres across napa and sonoma and lake counties, killing 22 people. the first to initiate evacuations was the fire departments division chief, lowenthal. he is joining us today. thanks for joining us. paul: thank you. kristen: when you look at evacuations from lahaina, does it bring you back to the

harrowing moments in 2017 when you had to be the first to tell people to get out of their homes? paul: yes, there are similarities to what we saw on the islands versus what we saw in california. at the time you thought the worst thing that would happen to santa rosa would be an earthquake. never would we imagine not would we be impacted by the tubbs fire and others. it is terrible to see wha have gone through. it seems it is becoming the new normal not just in western states, but the islands as well. kristen: can we talk about that? split screen on the left, that is our fires and on the right, lahaina. i read an article that some in maui said in 2019 they could get a northern california style wildfire. why? what are the similarities? the geography seems so different.

what enabled the conditions? paul: you are right, the environment is very different, but part of what we develop in our own wildfire protection plan is, climate is changing. climate science and looking at what is happening with our fuels, drought conditions, excessive rainfall, it is having an impact. you look at not only the islands but what occurred in canada, up and down southern california recently. it feels like the bullseye keeps moving around. it is more and more important to get the word out on the potential and what residents can do to learn from these tragic events. kristen: fires are going to happen. we do not want to see like on the left, coffee park. everything was leveled. can you talk about why it is so hard in those types of fires to save lives and minimize damage? paul: you look at the winds,

hurricane-force winds, the result of a north wind event. it really starts transitioning from the vegetation fire to an interface fire where it is intermixed with homes, to the valley floor like in coffee park. some people compare it to lahaina. had our winds not died, there is no doubt it would've continued to not just push through coffee park, but probably into downtown santa rosa and beyond. the only thing that stopped it was the fact the winds let up. you are at the mercy of what the wind and environment will do, left with what we can do to get people out of harm's way, focusing on protection of life first and doing what we can to contain and stop the spread. kristen: what is so surprising

there, they normally have trade winds, a lot of humidity, the tropical temperatures usually protect you from something like this, right? but so dry water restrictions here. paul: we are accustomed to our own afternoon winds. there are similarities with the trade winds, the humidity. we have the same thing in northern california, sonoma county, north bay. we get the coastal influence that makes the bay area great and cools things off. it is a predictable wind off the coast that cools the environment down, but it has the potential to pick up wind speeds and be a threat of fire spreading the -- spreading in the afternoon. we events, the offshoot of a

hurricane type wind event like we saw in 2015 in the valley fire. that was the result of a system that fell apart, similar to what they saw in lahaina. you never know when everythin will come together and get ignition that leads to devastating fire. when we saw the tubbs fire as the most destructive in the state's history, it is a title you do not want. at the same time, it is a title you do not want to lose, because if you do, it means someone has gone through something more devastating, and that is what we saw with the camp fire. that is why departments like us and those who have been through these devastating fires tend to try to help one another after they have gone through this to talk about the lessons we have learned, to help with not only recovery, but how we have

changed how we respond to future fires, to make our community safer and hopefully others can learn. kristen: we have to wrap this up, we have 30 seconds. since we cannot control the long-term, that takes policy, climate. but as we head into dangerous months, september, october, november, what can we do in the short term around our own homes, in 30 seconds? paul: defensible space, be prepared, have the evacuation checklist and go bag ready to go. you look at where we were in 2017. people learned from that, did not want to go through it again. they got the defensible space, evacuation checklist, new how to get out. we saw how we responded and how our community was better prepared. you look at the benefits compared to data then, it is incredible how far we have come.

kristen: keep educating us, we appreciate that! up next, we shifted gears to something more of -- more uplifting. "love in taipei," a movie featuring an all-american

well well well, what have we here? a magical place... that's lookin' to get scared! with bats...and ghouls... and cars in disguise. i've cast quite a spell now... you won't believe your eyes! [laughter] the spell is cast. halloween time is back with spook-tacular experiences in disneyland and disney california adventure parks! [laughter]

kristen: a new movie dropped today called "love in taipei," based on a bay area author's story. it is one many will be familiar with. >> surprise. >> you are going to taipei. >> taiwan? >> we want to give you something special. >> i am torn between two everything. >> when i am with you, i am more me. >> there is so much about the life you want, you never take

time to appreciate the life you have. kristen: the protagonist's parents center to a cultural immersion program run by the government of taiwan, affectionately nicknamed "the love boat" for the many resulting love matches. joining us to talk about this delightful movie, author and executive producer of "love in taipei," abigail hing wen. thanks for coming on the show. abigail: great to chat with you again. kristen: the first time i tried to interview you was the first day covid shut down the world. your book had just become popular and i was excited to write -- to talk to you. now, bestseller and the movie drops. does this feel surreal to you? abigail: it has been, but also a long time. we have had a lot of heart and

soul go into this day. kristen: can i show something thrilling? in new york's times square, as the movie drops today, streaming on paramount plus, look at that. tell us about the story and why you think it resonates so much with different groups? young people and generations of chinese-americans. abigail: the 18-year-old's parents center from ohio to taiwan to learn chinese language and culture. she goes unwillingly, had plans for her summer that involved dancing and not spending time in a culture she knew nothing about and had no interest in. she discovered it is a free-for-all and they do not have parental supervision and go wild in the best of ways, exploring the city, exploring night markets, taking a culture of their own. kristen: was this based on your

experience? abigail: exactly. i did a love boat program, my freshman summer after harvard. i thought i was going to a language and culture program, but it was completely different. kristen: look at that. i will not give away anything. i want to say, it is hard for a movie to come out right now with the writers and actors strike, but the asian american community has rallied behind you and this film, hosting a screening last night in los angeles and one in san francisco. talk about this grassroots effort. abigail: it has been encouragingabigail:. there are two important strikes in hollywood, so actors can be part of the promotion campaign. it is the first gen z all asian american cast. it does need that extra boost, but the community has come

through. there was a san francisco and los angeles screen, a toronto one yesterday. there will be a virtual q&a. people can find information on my website. that will be august 16. watch the movie on paramount plus. you can sign up for a free subscription. kristen: fantastic. so many charming young asian american actors in your film. do you feel this is a launchpad for them and you? is it important in terms of making this film? abigail: that was always the hope in this. i knew we had to find a lot of undiscovered talents. my hope is that they will go on to be discovered into other non-ethnic specific roles and play all kinds of characters. we play all kinds of roles

society. some characters are artist, jocks, doctors, nerds. people fall in love, make mistakes, do better, get back up. i am thrilled to showcase that diversity. kristen: taipei. gorgeous shots. the night markets. anyone who has been there will see the sense of familiarity. talk about shooting that, it was during the pandemic, right? abigail: it was a crazy time. taipei was a closed country so we had to get special visas, two weeks of quarantine. had the safest set because we had taiwanese protocols and american protocols with lots of testing. we had 200 extras and everybody tested twice and nobody got

covid. it was a miracle. we created this to showcase taipei without a pandemic and i think we were successful. kristen: very successful. do not want to inject my personal opinion too much, but i saw it, such a fun ride. my son loved it, too. i know lots of people in the bay area who went to the love boat program but i never thought this story would be told on the big screen. why is that possible now and why is it important? abigail: things have changed so much. even 15 years before i wrote this there was an asian american writer who was asked to change her character to a white character for marketing purposes. a lot has changed in hollywood. i praise stories like "hamilton" with a diverse casts to reach audiences. kristen: i am sorry, we are out

of time. paramount plus you can see "love in taipei"

kristen: thanks for joining us for "getting answers tonight, deadly and catastrophic fires torch maui. thousands of hawaiian residents and tourists race to escape the flames. hor iic images inside the inferno. the historic town of lahaina, which has stood for centuries, hundreds of buildings and cultural landmarks destroyed, gutted by fire. at least 36 people killed. the death toll only expected to rise. firefighters stretched to the limit battling multiple fires