to know yeah i got to know ♪ ♪ whoa lord whoa lord oh ♪ tonight, catastrophic fires in hawaii killing dozens, wiping out communities. >> i think in 48 years, i've never seen anything like this in my entire life. >> the harrowing stories of survival. >> face-to-face with fire. i could feel the heat burning the hair on my skin. i lost the bottom of my eyelashes. >> landmarks destroyed. >> it's hard for me to wrap my head around the tremendous loss.

we're talking people, their homes, their traditions. >> juju: the stunning before and after-images with thousands now displaced. rock 'n' roll legend mic fleetwood on his restaurant in the devastated town of lahaina and his commitment on rebuilding the community. >> it's where to go and get help and not at all hesitate to ask for that help. >> juju: the leaders on the ground updating with the latest. this special edition of "nightline," "state of emergency: maui ablaze" will be right back. from day 1, its proven natural nutrition supports charlie's strong immune system... and ginger's healthy heart. (vo) healthy differences today and for a lifetime. purina one. a difference from day one. your bug spray should take out bugs, not keep out people. unlike other sprays that stick around, zevo goes from kill to clean in just seconds, plus it's safe for use around people and pets.

zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly. with a little help. and to support my family's immune health, i choose airborne. it has an unbeatable amount of vitamin c, plus a unique blend of immune focused ingredients to turn up our immune support. airborne viruses and bacteria float all around us. unlike air fresheners, only new lysol air sanitizer kills 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in the air.

because scent can't sanitize. lysol can. ♪ >> juju: thanks for joining us. tonight, we return to those devastating wildfires sweeping across maui, killing dozens. the staggering scenes of devastation. homes, businesses, historic landmarks burned to the ground. amid the tragedy, there is resilience. families and neighbors opening their homes and hearts. here's abc's becky worley. >> i'm still in a little bit of shock. everything happened so quickly and out of nowhere. we never thought it would grow to what it had grown into. >> reporter: as wildfires burned around him, boscoe bay jr. escaped with his life. he spoke to us from the walmart

in central maui. >> we were face to face with fire. i could feel the heat burning, you know, the hairs on my skin. i lost the bottom of my eyelashes. every single thing around us was on fire except our building. all my possessions, everything i have in the world at this point. might be gone. >> reporter: for two days these deadly massive wildfires hatch ravaged the island, spurred on by hurricane winds. >> this was a home. >> reporter: forcing thousands to evacuate. >> i've been here 48 years, i've never seen anything like this in my entire life. >> reporter: it's the deadliest wildfire to strike hawaii, killing at least 53 people. authorities estimate around 1,000 people are missing and fear the death toll will continue to rise. >> this place has felt like home from the second i got here. and i feel like my childhood home in town has been burnt down to the ground. >> reporter: boscoe bay jr., an air force vet who moved to

lahaina two years ago, was one of the last people to escape from the area. >> it was nobody on the road, nothing but darkness. every building left and right seemed like it was on fire. navigated around downed power cords, slowly were able to make it to safety after a couple of miles. >> reporter: national guard helicopters have been working around the clock, dropping about 150,000 gallons of water to converge the flames. the island's fire 80% contained but the humanitarian crisis just beginning. thousands displaced, shelters overflowing. the wildfires' destruction centered here in lahaina, where my colleague, gio benitez, got a firsthand look at the aftermath. >> block after block, homes, these were once homes, amazing homes here on front street. over here we have the famous front street apartments. and these are just totally burned down. >> reporter: anchor david ono of

kabc on the ground too. >> behind me is a classic lahaina neighborhood. as you can see, the devastation is vast. many, many homes on this one city block have gone up in flames. >> reporter: the beloved national historic landmark decimated. rubble covered in soot and ash all that's left. that once-bustling district a ghost perspective, it is going take many years to rebuild lahaina. >> reporter: aerial photos showing the lush landscape of what lahaina looked like before, and the catastrophic aftermath. smoke choking the town now razed to the ground. >> when i see the aerial views of everything gone, you know, i literally see all my friends and communities and neighbors' homes completely gone. >> reporter: 18-year resident kelly chapman's business and home also one of those heaps of charred earth seen from above. >> i have moments of deep gratitude and moments of just

absolute despair. >> we're working as quickly as possible to fight these fires and evacuate residents and tourists. >> reporter: president biden today declaring maui a major disaster area and mobilizing the military to fight any fires still raging. >> anyone who's lost a loved one whose home has been damaged or destroyed is going to get help immediately. >> reporter: people who live near the road out of lahaina, like kayla and her family, helping neighbors. >> a lot of them left lahaina with nothing. they had absolutely nothing. they just had to run from the flames. all we can do is hold them. offer them everything that we possibly have as they transition through and figure out what's next. >> reporter: providing for more than ten families now staying in her home. >> i'm thinking, you come from the heart. you come from the instinct, your gut. when we feel moved to help people, we don't ignore those feelings. >> reporter: they have access to the basics they lost. food, water, clothing. in local fashion, with the aloha spirit, they're treated like

family. >> everyone's still in shock. nobody revisited their homes yet. so everyone's kind of just still processing how they survived that. that experience. >> reporter: she runs the maui museum, and she says what lahaina has lost is irreplaceable. >> lahaina was a huge place for our identity. and -- and we think about our children -- and being able to take them back to places where -- where their ancestry comes from. the things that we lost in lahaina is -- is so emotional. because i'd personal. >> reporter: among the evacuees who jumped into the ocean to escape the blaze, a seven-year resident, sean doherty, and his girlfriend. >> at one point, it seemed like -- like wow, i drowned, i inhaled a lot of water. >> reporter: he attempted to get out of the water but the hot pavement burned his feet,

leaving him with second-degree burns. he was separated from his girlfriend amidst the chaos. he doesn't know if she survived and has no way of contacting her family. >> her family lives only a mile away from us, and that whole area is probably gone. they have two small children. i'm really concerned about them. >> reporter: sean is one of so many trying to find their missing loved ones. my colleague gio benitez spoke to steven scott, a maui resident yesterday desperately searching for his wife, patricia. >> i know she's safe, i think she's safe. but i haven't found her yet. >> reporter: he's one of the lucky ones. today finally reunited. on the other side of the island, an hour away from lahaina, devastation from a different fire. >> tree fell over, hit the power lines. that started the fire. >> we got out, we got the cats. that's the most important thing. everyone's safe. >> reporter: sabrina fellman's home was burned to its foundation.

>> we bought it eight years ago. complete fixer-upper. spent every weekend fixing it up. yeah. we're going to start from scratch, it's fine. >> reporter: all that's left fits this this plastic bag. she and her husband, andre, lost their wedding rings, too. andre digging with bare hands trying to find them. an hour later -- any luck with the ring? >> yes. >> you found it? >> one of them. >> can we see? >> at least one. we're still looking for the other one. >> oh my gosh. >> it doesn't look like much, but you know. >> wow. >> but it's here. >> wow. >> you can even see the engravings. >> reporter: with authorities urging people to get off the island, busloads raced to the airport only to be stranded as flights were delayed or canceled. overnight, many taking temporary refuge inside the terminal. authorities still don't know what sparked the flames, but experts say low humidity, dry

vegetation, and gusts up to 85 miles an hour fueled the spread of the deadly inferno. >> that's why maui had such a hard time doing containment. we couldn't provide helicopters because of the high winds. >> reporter: the locals and people who grew up here, like me, maui is family and home. a living monument of the island's rich, noble roots. lahaina was capital of the original hawaiian country in the early century. >> lahaina was the first seat of government for the chiefs and chiefesses, so the governing class and ruling class of our hawaiian people. >> reporter: centuries of history and artifacts reduced to ashes, like lahaina's notable landmark, 150-year-old banyan tree, the largest in the nation. >> we're talking historical documents, books, rare books.

we're talking about also the places that we consider historical in that town. churches, schools, cemeteries. it's hard for me to wrap my head around the tremendous loss. we're talking about people, their homes, their traditions that they have passed down from generation to generation. >> reporter: hallowed relics they can't get back. >> everyone needs our migplight. if you have resource, if you have a connection or a desire to support us and help us, this is the time. >> reporter: in the face of tragedy and devastation that now haunts the island, the maui community resilient. volunteers, many of whom lost their own homes, taking care of one another as they wait to return to their neighborhoods. >> it's still paradise.

we'll rebuild. it will become bigger and better like anything that rises from the ashes. that's what i truly believe. >> juju: our thanks to becky. joining me is richard bissen, mayor of maui county. thanks for joining us. >> thank you for having me on. >> juju: i know that you and the governor got a firsthand look at the devastation. he called it a heartbreaking day. what did you see? >> we saw what used to be a vibrant town full of residents, full of visitors. turn into a ghost town. there are no more buildings. cars are still in the road, some with doors open. indicating people had to run. and what's left is very little of what it used. >> juju: heartbreaking. with the hospitals overwhelmed and residents displaced, you said everything's gone in that area. what are your priorities tonight? >> our priorities is continue to fight fires. they're not completely contained.

next is to save lives. if we can. find people who may have sheltered somewhere. if not, recover those folks that may have perished so that we can bring closure to their families. then, of course, we are trying to assess the amount of damage and what it will take to clear the debris and to rebuild. we absolutely will rebuild. that will become our focus. >> juju: your fellow officials said 2,000 rooms are needed for housing. how do you plan to get all those folks housed? >> well, we have a few options. the one the governor talked about today was perhaps with the help of either state funds or fema funds or any other federal funds that are opened up as a result of the president's declaration of an emergency would be perhaps those hotel rooms, if we could get power and

water back on to them, that were once used by visitors. someone had a creative idea today of short-term rentals, vacation rentals being used as longer-term rentals for our residents. >> juju: mayor, thank you. we know you haven't slept in days. we wish you and all the residents of maui county well, thank you. >> thank you very much. coming up, rock and roll hall of famer mic fleetwood among the thousands affected by those wildfires. among the thousands affected by those wildfires. his restaurant destroyed. takes you off course. put it in check with rinvoq, a once-daily pill. when i wanted to see results fast, rinvoq delivered rapid symptom relief and helped leave bathroom urgency behind. check. when uc tried to slow me down... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc caused damage rinvoq came through by visibly repairing my colon lining.

check. rapid symptom relief... lasting steroid-free remission... ...and the chance to visibly repair the colon lining. check, check, and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer; death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. people 50 and older with at least 1 heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq as serious reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. put uc in check and keep it there with rinvoq. ask your gastroenterologist about rinvoq and learn how abbvie can help you save. my most important kitchen tool? my brain. so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators

of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger. did you know most dish soaps don't remove all the grease, even with scrubbing? (whaaat?) i just cleaned those. try dawn platinum. it removes 99% of grease and food residue. that's why dawn is trusted to save wildlife affected by oil. dawn platinum cleans to the squeak. want luxury hair repair that doesn't cost $50? pantene's pro-vitamin formula repairs hair. as well as the leading luxury bonding treatment. for softness and resilience, without the price tag. if you know... you know it's pantene.

my brain. so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger. (♪) (♪)

(♪) (♪) (♪) (♪) (♪) (♪) visit your local volvo retailer, to explore mild hybrid suvs during the summer safely savings event. ♪

>> juju: joining us now, the legendary musician mick fleetwood, founder of the iconic rock band fleetwood mac. you've lived in maui for several decades. what is it like to watch this disaster unfold? >> the loss of life has been devastating to family and in hawaii we call family ohana. this is my home. i've lived there for over 25 years. so i consider myself as much a part of the island as i can possibly feel and be. and it's really been totally devastating for people of that level of loss of life. >> we know that for more than a decade, your restaurant, fleetwood's on front street, has been a mainstay. it burned and was destroyed in these fires. you said your biggest priority is the safety of your staff and

your team. is everyone okay? >> they are. it was an awful moment there where i think about seven members of the staff were not accounted for. i can happily say with regards to that, we were blessed that everyone is safe and sound, and they're -- you know, there were over 80 people to be accounted for one way or another. it was nerve-racking. sadly, there are people that didn't happen for. >> the death toll is staggering. officials are also saying over 1,000 structures have been destroyed and lost. what are your neighbors saying about the losses they've suffered? >> first of all, whether they're house owners or are tenants that were renting, the end result is, i don't have a home. i don't have anything to put on my back. and most of all, the necessity of immediate needs is food and where to get it and fresh water.

there is no electric on that side of the island at all. hopefully that will be something forthcoming before too very long. >> so as a long time resident, you know that lahaina is a place with deep roots, at the center of native hawaiian culture, as we reported earlier in the show. it's also a place where artists from around the world like yourself are part of that community. tell us what makes it so special? >> lahaina used to be the royal capital of the island chain of the hawaiian islands. it's a very, very historically treasured place for the hawaiian community and people such as myself who are blessed to become part of that community. with respect to the incredible history is really totally part of what lahaina is about. it's almost impossible for me to look at a picture of its total devastation. there is nothing left. the crown jewel of these islands in many ways, and also a massive

part of people coming to visit the islands and sustain livings for thousands of people who live on these islands. >> in the short time we have left, do you plan to rebuild? >> well, i think like the building that's standing there, it has to be rebuilt. we're happy to acknowledge the fact that at a federal level, we're getting all the help that's forthcoming. there's no way this town is not going to be rebuilt. >> juju: how can people help from the mainland, how can we help? >> all the usual channels are available in terms of fema and all these incredible societies that really are a conduit that gather donations, et cetera. as musicians, you mentioned earlier, there's already a huge undercurrent of support that's coming down which really, more

than anything -- yes, you can raise money, but more than anything, as a musician, you know, pied piper, if you like, we're able to attract attention and keep attention on what is going on. and that's a blessing to be part of that community as well. >> juju: that's important work you're doing today. thank you, mick fleetwood, for joining us. be well, aloha. when we come back, how you can help the people of maui. ♪ and one can go 0-60 in 2.8 seconds... ♪ and they're all emission free. but don't get an ev for the “e”... ♪ get it because it pins you to your seat... ♪ sparks your imagination... and takes your breath away... nissan evs aren't just electric, they electrify you. ♪ arthritis pain? we say not today.

tylenol 8 hour arthritis pain has two layers of relief. the first is fast, the second is long-lasting. we give you your day back, so you can give it everything. tylenol. number one doctor recommended for arthritis pain. (owner) purina one... we switched and wow! from day 1, its proven natural nutrition supports charlie's strong immune system... and ginger's healthy heart. (vo) healthy differences today and for a lifetime. purina one. a difference from day one. how do i do it all? with a little help. and to support my family's immune health, i choose airborne. it has an unbeatable amount of vitamin c, plus a unique blend of immune focused ingredients to turn up our immune support. airborne bug spray works best... when your family actually wears it. ♪ get odor-free eight hour protection from mosquitoes and ticks without the ick. zevo on-body repellent. people love it. bugs hate it.

my brain. so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker supporting 6 key indicators of brain health. to help keep me sharp. neuriva: think bigger.

♪ from the mountains to the coast... ♪ ♪ heatin' up the kitchen ♪ ♪ we got somethin different ♪ ♪ spreadin' good vibes all day ♪ ♪ todos a la mesa ♪ ♪ que buena la mezcla ♪ ♪ it don't get no better ♪ ♪ livin' in the golden state ♪ ♪ lovin' this land everyday ♪ ♪ norte a sur lo puedes ver ♪ ♪ nada se puede comparar ♪

♪ livin' in the golden state ♪ ♪ vive en el estado dorado...yeah ♪ how do i do it all? with a little help. and to support my family's immune health, i choose airborne. it has an unbeatable amount of vitamin c, plus a unique blend of immune focused ingredients to turn up our immune support. airborne ♪ >> juju: finally tonight, with so much need in maui, if you'd like to help visit

hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/ maui-strong. we'll have much more on the catastrophic wildfires overnight and on "good morning america." that's "nightline." we'll see you right back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.