tonight, we're on the ground in maui. >> looked like it was going to be the apocalypse. everything was on fire. everybody was covered in soot. >> an abc in-depth minute-by-minute look at how this disaster unfolded.

>> power line just went down. >> so much time went by as the fires spread. >> i hear stories that people would just see families huddled together. and said, it looks like it's pomp pompeii. they're just calcified. frozen in time. >> where were the alerts? why weren't the sirens sounded? and the surprising resignation of the maui emergency chief. plus the urgent race to help the thousands displaced by the flames. >> this is our house. it's all turning to dust. >> many are just thankful to be alive. >> i was fighting off fireballs. i had my purse, my cane. i'm alive. >> and more than 1,000 people still unaccounted for. this special edition of "nightline"," howie strong," david muir reporting, will be right back. my most important kitchen tool? my brain. so i choose neuriva plus. unlike some others, neuriva plus is a multitasker

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♪ "nightline," "maui strong," david muir reporting continues. >> david: good evening tonight from how i would. we are here after being given a firsthand look at the devastation in lahaina. question traveled by boat with two captains who answered the call that night. for the first time here, we see the images they captured of the raging fires and the heat they felt as they approached by water. tonight with more than 100 dead here and more than 1,000

missing, so many questions remain. could the authorities have done more? tonight, the images we have not seen before. the raging inferno in the distance. these are the images captured by two captains as they made their way into lahaina from the water, told by the coast guard, people were desperate for help. families trapped at the water's edge. so many jumping in. children among them. wading in the angry waters for hours. the ocean churning from the winds. all to escape the flames racing down the hill, some of those flames traveling a mile a minute. tonight, for the first time, we take that journey back with those captains, traveling along maui's western edge. just a haunting scene here all along front street, where so many families, and the people of lahaina, came down the hill to try to escape the flames and the heat. so many jumping in the water here just to survive.

as the two captains got closer to the harbor after nightfall, they could feel the heat, the blinding smoke. we've all seen the images of the people who jumped in the water to just to survive this and who were huddled along front street here. >> we were expecting the worst on the way in, so we had -- we had big spotlights up, flashlights searching. it was -- there was so much smoke in the air, your flashlight beam would only go about 100 feet or so. >> david: as we look at it here, you can see that people had no place to go, other than the water or the one road out of town. >> yeah. >> david: i mean, they were trapped. >> sorry. >> david: it is still too raw. captain riley coons and captain travis dewater. they were both there that night. >> it looked like a zombie apocalypse, everything was on fire.

everybody was just covered in soot. >> david: their faces were covered in soot from the fire? >> yeah. i mean, everything. >> david: everything. >> everybody was kind of covered in soot. >> david: so many people who were actually even in the water were holding a t-shirt up to their face just to breathe through it? >> the best i could tell, there was a girl that was 9 and a boy that was, like, 11 or 12 -- they were pretty scared. we showed up out of the dark and took them paddling out through the waves. i think it was the young boy, the older one was encouraging his sister to be strong, and it was pretty touching. >> david: when you look at these charred buildings and the melted cars all along front street, i mean, it's as though these families just -- they got trapped. when you think about the people still unaccounted for here -- >> it's just one of the heaviest thoughts to think about -- i know that there's -- i got three

young kids, and i just imagine what -- i'm just so thankful i wasn't in here. i heard stories that people would just see families huddled together, and they said, it looks like it's pompeii. they're just calcified, frozen in time. then when i heard that, because schools weren't in that day, it was so windy that a lot of these were children at home -- it's just too much. sorry. sorry. >> david: the images of that night. the families, parents and their children in their cars. they won't forget. tonight, abc news with an in-depth look at the timeline. how did this happen? it was more than a week ago, monday evening, august 7th, 10:47 p.m. a surveillance camera capturing

this moment. a flash. video of what could have been an early trigger in these deadly fires. a power line arcing. witness jennifer pribble. >> it was windy, and then there's a flash, and i think that's when a tree is falling on a power line. the power goes out. >> david: the company capturing dozens of major incidents around lahaina. >> we've got video of that explosion. we've got ten sensors in that community that show a very sharp drop in electrical voltage at precisely that same time. >> david: 6:54, eight hours later, you can see jennifer and a co-worker running with a garden hose and a fire extinguisher, trying to put out the flames. 6:47, shane woken up by howling kinds.

in that moment using a hose to try to protect his home from the fires that he says appears to have been caused by a downed power line. >> that's the power line that started from up the road there. >> david: authorities declaring that fire under control around 9:00 a.m. that morning. then losing control of the flames hours later when the winds caused a flare-up to spread. >> nice gust right there. >> david: those winds, 60 to 80 miles per hour. >> let's see how long this is going to hang. >> david: a power line pole beginning to shake. winds intensifying. debris flying. that pole rocking. the winds like rocket fuel for the fires. tonight, demand for accountability and serious questions about whether alerts were sent when they should have been and whether sirens should have been sounded. >> was there a widespread alert? >> no, no, there wasn't. it was -- it seemed sporadic. i'm going to have to say the government could have done a little bit better. >> david: none of the sirens were activated. the head of hawaii's emergency management agency defending the decision not to sound those

alarms, saying he has no regrets. >> do you regret not sounding the sirens? >> i do not. the sirens, as i mentioned earlier, is used primarily for tsunamis. had we sounded the sigh remember that night, we're afraid people would have gone into the fire. >> david: late tonight that administrator for the maui emergency management area has turned in his resignation, citing health reasons. tonight maui's mayor has accepted saying, "given the gravity of the crisis we are facing, my team and i will be placing someone in this key position as quickly as possible, and i look forward to making that announcement soon." in this neighborhood, disbelief. people rushing to evacuate in their cars. by 3:52 p.m., the reflection in the side view mirror, a glimpse of what was coming directly at them. eric zimmerman capturing these images as the dark smoke overtakes the sky. >> 4:00 in the afternoon.

smoke is crazy, ash all over my face. >> david: the hopper family, here on vacation, praying in their car. >> just keep us safe. >> david: 4:46 p.m., the fire and smoke overtaking lahaina. by 5:00 p.m., historic front street, filled with businesses and restaurants, was on fire. the explosions. at 5:02, denny uchert holding his phone out his window. gridlock on front street. families were trapped. smoke and fire all around them. >> you could feel the heat off the traffic. >> david: denny not sure what would come next, recording this message to his family. >> if i don't make it through this, i love everybody. >> david: two blocks away, marjorie st. clair driving away from her home, trying to find a way out. >> lahaina is on fire. >> david: 5:30 p.m., the fire on front street so ferocious, families, including tompkins,

have made the possible decision to abandon their cars and jump into the ocean. >> both sides to the left and the right are on fire. >> david: so many clinging to the shoreline, covering their mouths and their eyes. >> at one point, it seemed like i might drown. i inhaled a lot of water. >> david: when sean doherty got back onto land, he was badly burned. >> i couldn't make it across the street, is pavement was so hot. i have second-degree burns on the bottom of my feet. >> david: boscoe bay leaving his workplace on front street 5:36 p.m., one block from noah, embers barreling toward him, in the direction of denny's car. 5:59 p.m., one block away, denny has abandoned his car, crossing the street and sheltering on the rocks of the harbor. dozens of people are sitting across the rocks as the waves crash over them. 9:39 p.m., homes, buildings,

burned to the ground. two hours later, 11:30 p.m., a half an hour before those two captains arrive in the harbor to help, this nighttime drone with a view from above. tonight, more than a week later, increased scrutiny on the utility company, hawaiian electric. that company saying they are still investigating what triggered the fire, adding that the cause has not been determined. and hawaii's attorney general now launching an investigation into the response. at least three lawsuits have now been filed against that utility company alleging turning off the power could have saved lives, preventing electrical fires. hawaiian electric defending its actions, saying power was needed to keep the water running. but authorities say in some places, that ultimately failed, too. firefighters reporting some fire hydrants had run dry. >> in lahaina, the electricity powers the pumps that provide the water. so that was also a critical need during that time.

>> david: and it was around midnight that night those two captains, riley and travis, arrive in that harbor only to find the raging fires and the blinding smoke. a week later, they're aware they were not the only ones who raced in to help. a lot of people here did a lot of heroic work, huh? >> the community's been amazing on the response side. there was other boats out here that night, we're not the only one. >> that was one of the amazing things out of this is how fast the community came together and rose up. it was instant, it was everybody. >> david: i think the whole country is thinking about the people of lahaina and maui. we've got to do something to honor all these families here. >> i hope so. >> david: those two captains, so many heroes here on maui. when we come back on this special edition of "nightline," the heartbreaking humanitarian crisis here. the families in desperate need. . and to support my family's immune health,

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"nightline," "maui strong," david muir reporting, continues. here again, david muir. >> david: tonight, the desperate need here on the ground. it is a massive task here trying to find shelter for the thousands who lost their homes in the fires. where do you live when your home is gone in minutes? tonight, the families and where they've been taken in, grateful for a roof over their heads. >> whatever inside here, this is all i have. i just have only this, that's all i have in here. this is our house. it's all turned to dust.

and the only way we can see, because of this boundary. >> david: all that stands of melin cesar's family home is a palm tree. >> it's all gone. it's all constructed to go in. but most important, we are alive. >> david: melin and nine family members have been living at this emergency shelter for over a week now, living in cramped quarters on cots. what they were able to salvage packed into a few suitcases. >> that's the end of our neighborhood. now we're nothing. >> david: since the fire, so many like melin forced into shelters. >> you see everybody laying there in a cot or their air mattress or something. it's pretty heartbreaking. >> david: now finally, some relief. the governmentin movg thousands of displaced residents from shelters into temporary housing. >> if you're staying in a shelter, if you're staying with family members or friends and you are not in a good living

situation, you're just displaced because of the fires, we may be able to get you into a hotel room. >> david: melin and her family are relocating to the royal lahaina resort north of the disaster zone. >> we'll have 400 families here today. we're here to do whatever we can. >> david: the beachfront hotel opens doors to hundreds of locals who have lost everything. >> by the grace of god, we're here. >> david: inside their hotel room, melin showing us her new home. >> so sorry it's messy. >> david: real beds to get some much-needed rest. clothes, water, food, supplies collected from the shelter spread out across the room. the small things that can be taken for granted now providing some comfort to the family, and they are grateful. >> i'm happy. i'm thankful. we have this room. >> david: in this quiet moment alone, melin breaking down. >> there are times when i remember everything. it makes me cry.

i just hide from my husband and my children. when i wake up in the morning, in the shelter, i'm crying. because, like, what are we going to do? i just tried to show everybody i'm smiling. but if by myself, i cannot help. i must be strong for my family. >> pretty much, what you see is what you get. i have my purse, my cane. i'm alive. i was fighting off fireballs. >> david: at the edge of the disaster zone, 61-year-old kathleen sicard who escaped lahaina with her life. she'd been living in a senior living center. >> we're on our own to respond any way we thought was appropriate. >> david: her friend buddy didn't make it. >> buddy was a musician. he loved music, he loved his instruments. he was a very nice man, and i'm very sad to lose a friend. >> david: although safe, she knows her community is in immense pain. >> what's really hurting me is the loss of life.

and the families that are now grieving. >> david: kathleen's church is now paying for her to stay at the marriott hotel in waialae toward two weeks. >> people perished in this. but we have a lot to do to move forward. but we're still grieving. we're sad. i'm sad. but i need to have closure. what happened? i need to feel it, see it for myself. >> it was about 4:00 in the morning. and my daughter woke up, and she said, "mommy, it smells like smoke." >> david: nicole williams, her two children, and mother, monica, staying with friends in kehei. she says she lost communication with her mother for 36 hours. >> we didn't have any communication. but i just found her. walking on the side of the road. when i was driving around, looking for gas. >> david: nicole is fighting to get into temporary housing, but

three housing placements have already fallen through. >> i with a lot of -- all of lahaina, that endured what we did, feels failed by the system. >> david: the family's only possession, a rental car to get around while they await word on housing. >> we're just not getting the help that we expected to be getting. and we're all just basically banding together as a community. and we've taken care of each other. >> david: for now, she's choosing to remain grateful for what she still has. her family. >> no matter what, we always have each other. and we will always, you know, be lahaina strong. and that's what i want to make sure that my kids, you know, keep with them forever. >> david: the gratitude and the need here on maui. when we come back tonight, the beloved local symbol, the banyan tree still standing.

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♪ ♪ >> david: finally tonight here on "nightline," the 150-year-old banyan tree charred but still standing. a symbol of endurance in the heart of lahaina, feared an early casualty of the fire. we cuttinaught a glimpse of the efforts to heal it today. we could spray of water overhead, the hoses, arbis