♪ this is "nightline." >> byron: tonight, maui. the first residents of lahaina returning to what's left of their homes seven weeks after the fire. still more questions than answers. >> we knew it was going to

happen. we knew it was coming. >> byron: our abc news investigation revealing missteps on that horrific day, but also missed opportunities for weeks, months, and even years before. >> we shouldn't have to be fighting for a fire station. >> byron: how did it all go wrong? who's to blame? and could it happen again? brad paisley. ♪ remind me ♪ >> byron: the "remind me" country superstar dropping new music later this week. and a continued mission to help the people of his home state of west virginia. ♪ if the devil's in the details ♪ ♪ well then hell's in bell a graham's ♪ >> byron: paisley attacking the opioid crisis which he says was a calculated strike. >> we were targeted by these companies that said, these are the people that will eat this stuff up. >> byron: and welcome home.

frank rubio. >> it's good to be home. >> byron: the american astronaut landing from the longest single spaceflight in history. with a. 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

we made it! bmo has arrived. hello? you said it. hello to more ways to save money, grow your wealth, grow your business. just what we needed, another big bank. not so fast. how many banks do you know that reward you for saving every month? he's got a good point. did i mention bmo has more fee-free atms than the two largest us banks combined? uh, b-m-o? ( ♪ ) should i get rid of the mug? ♪ bmo ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> byron: good evening. thank you for joining us. it's been almost two months since the wildfires destroyed part of maui. an abc news investigation has uncovered mistakes, missed

opportunities, and insufficient preparation. tomorrow, the ceo of hawaii electric will face questions from the house energy and commerce committee on his company's actions before and during the fires on maui. here's abc's whit johnson with another story, part of the abc news coverage, "maui strong 808." >> reporter: this week, some residents of lahaina were allowed back for the first time, searching for anything that remains. rick and joe have been unable to return, but like so many of their neighbors, they lost nearly everything. narrowly escaping. >> i thought, i can't breathe. it's just going to collapse. >> reporter: the inferno on august 8th engulfed nearly the entire coastal town. at least 97 people died. 22 are still missing. in the weeks since, mounting questions surrounding the actions of the island's utility company, hawaiian electric, is

emergency response, and lack of resources, have government officials and company executives pointing fingers at each other. a fire was first reported at 6:37 a.m. on august 8th, reportedly caused by a downed power line. firefighters responded and just before 9:00 a.m. declared that fire 100% contained. they remained on the scene as winds picked up, leaving shortly after 2:00 p.m. to battle other fires. but by 3:00 p.m., a fire was once again burning in the same area. dangerously high winds whipped through west maui. >> it was in minutes that multiple houses were on fire. >> so this went from a brush fire to homes burning within a matter of minutes? >> yeah. >> reporter: an emergency siren, never sounded. firefighters said some hydrants they tapped into ran dry. residents fleeing lahaina faced dangerous traffic jams. >> we have doubts that much could have been done with the fast-moving fire like that. >> reporter: but despite the

extremely high winds and the unprecedented fury of the wildfires, our abc news investigation has found a series of missed opportunities in the days, months, and even years leading up to the fire that could have possibly reduced the devastation. >> we knew it was going to happen. we knew it was coming. >> reporter: lahaina resident jennifer potter spent over four years as a commissioner on the hawaii public utilities committee, the state agency that regulates the electrical utility. >> there's a tremendous amount of anger. what could we have possibly done differently? >> reporter: in the days before the fire, the hawaii emergency management agency issued a red flag warning of gusty winds and dry fuels creating a risk of extreme fire. >> we should have turned the power off to the west side, because we know that the infrastructure over here just was not capable of withstanding it, period. >> reporter: but hawaiian electric did not pre-emptively shut off the power. we found the company previously acknowledged the frailty of its electrical grid, saying in company documents after a 2018

hurricane that it was aware of the extreme vulnerability of its infrastructure and the escalating risk of wildfires and hurricanes. >> we saw that from pictures of these power poles breaking, snapping in half like toothpicks. >> reporter: company documents show that 2018 hurricane downed power lines on maui and brush fires ignited on the island. just days after the lahaina fire, we saw similar damage. >> all the power poles. one after another after another. they're snapped and down. >> reporter: lines with power running through them can spark if they fall to the ground. >> california has a shutoff program for when winds get too high in their area. that's the sledgehammer solution. but until we get a better solution in place, this is the one that we've got. >> reporter: in 2020, the

company submitted a memo. the company told abc news it already started by replacing poles and trimming and removing trees. hawaiian electric acknowledged shutting off the power could be used to mitigate fire risk until more robust preventive measures were in place. but in that 2022 document, there was no mention of an official shutoff plan. after the fire, heiren electric's ceo called such plans controversial. >> we, like most utilities, don't have that program. in lahaina the electricity powers the pumps that provide the water. so that was also a critical need during that time. >> why wasn't there a plan in place that basically stated, if we're going to shut off power, we're going to be able to get power to water pumps? there's always opportunity for to us prepare, but we didn't. we didn't prepare. >> reporter: hawaiian electric told us that the county is responsible for providing backup power for the pumps.

a county water official acknowledged there were not enough generators to power the whole system. still, they faulted fire damage to pipes for the weakened water pressure. hawaiian electric said they've spent over $1 billion on grid improvements and vegetation management since 2018. maui county is suing hawaiian electric, alleging its inaction in the days before the fire caused the destruction. the company is fighting back, confirming a downed power line like ly caused the initial fire but blaming the firefighting response for the devastation that followed. fire department on maui is often spread thin, with fewer than 70 firefighters working at one time responsible for three islands. and the day of the lahaina fire, there were two other fires. west maui has just two fire stations for over 28,000 people. an abc news investigation reviews maui county budgets dating back 15 years and found the county acknowledged the

region needed more firefighting resources. in the mid-2000s, the county committed $6.7 million to build a fire stat lahaina. response times were deemed inadequate, and adding 15 personnel for the planned station were proposed. by the end of that decade, none of that money had been spent. after close calls with fires during the 2018 hurricane, they decided to build a fire station themselves. >> we saw the danger that we saw, this is something that we need. and nobody else was doing it. >> reporter: they began fund-raise income late 2022 and raised nearly one-quarter of their $2 million goal. they even got a plot of landau nated. less than a year later, fire devastated lahaina. though they don't know for sure the fire station would have made a difference, both think the county neglected residents' health and safety by not prioritizing the station's construction. >> we've got a billion-dollar

budget. we've got the money to fix this thing. we shouldn't have to be fighting for a fire station. >> reporter: a spark from a downed power line can only cause a fire where there's fuel, and hawaii has plenty of that. one-quarter of the state, including west maui, is covered by grasses like these, making hawaii a tinder box. over 20,000 acres burn here every year. >> these kind of fuel types in the landscape ignite incredibly easy, and fire rips through these things at incredibly high today. >> reporter: clay trournet studies the invasive grasses that cover the state at the university in hawaii. >> the primary threat are the fuels in these abandoned agricultural landscapes. >> reporter: sugarcane and pineapple plantations were once in abundance here, but they've mostly shut down and been bought up by private landowners, leaving behind fields where

invasive grasses have thrived, making firefighters' jobs harder. >> we have very little investment in these actions that make their job safer. >> reporter: hawaii has no specific fire marshal, no one person responsible for overseeing this escalating threat. in its place, relying on a fire council made up of already-busy county fire chiefs. west maui landowners have said their manage their lands and cited limited access to water as one reason the fields are so dry. >> what's missing is elected official learning and action. >> reporter: elizabeth pickett is the codirector of the nonprofit "-wildfire management organization." her group has pushed for better land management. >> we've knocked on legislator doors every two years. we've made customized maps of wildfire risks in their districts. they say, "thank you, interesting." i finally, after 16 years in this job, feel like there might be the political will to get some of that moving.

>> that type of fuel is flash fuel. it goes off really fast. >> reporter: pickett's nonprofit travels across the state, conducting free home assessments for locals who feel like they have nowhere else to turn. >> we don't know what would happen if that thing starts smoldering. >> reporter: georgette stevens signed up for an inspection on oahu, surrounded by dry grasses. she's had fires start in the mountains behind her house and get alarmingly close. >> our community, our kapuna, our elders, as a result of the fire in reline na, they're scared. >> reporter: stevens says she and neighbors are making plans, and like so many communities across hawaii, desperate to avoid becoming the next lahaina. >> we need to make sure that what happened in lahaina doesn't happen anywhere else. >> our thanks to whit. stay with abc news for our continuing coverage of "maui 8

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virginian to the bone. he drops two new songs friday and has provided "nightline" with an exclusive look at some new music videos. here's abc's rhiannon alley. >> reporter: global country superstar brad paisley is about to take the stage. this show is for a crowd and a place very special to him. >> welcome back! >> reporter: in his home state of west virginia. >> how are the huskies going to be in football this year? [ cheers and applause ] >> i played in jazz band in my school. it was a room just like this where we would practice. there are going to be really happy dorks in this room, i promise. >> were you one of those dorks? >> i was one of those, yeah. >> reporter: now one of country music's most celebrated artists with over 11 million albums sold, three grammys, an astonishing 24 number one singles. with hits like "remind me" with carrie underwood. ♪ remind me oh baby remind me ♪

>> reporter: paisley keeps his roots close to his music, filming the music video for "letter to me" at his local high school. ♪ write this letter to me ♪ >> what was it like growing up here? >> this was idyllic at the time. when i grew up here, west virginia didhave the problems it has now. everyone knew everyone. there was accountability to that. if you pushed the envelope, it wasn't that far. but you felt loved by the community. >> reporter: west virginia tugging paisley home time and time again. this time performing in the end zone of herbert hoover high school in clendenin, a school he helped rebuild after devastating floods in 2016. with the $100,000 donation through his paisley foundation and fund-raising efforts that topped $1 million. but lately it's been his music that he hopes will spark change. ♪ i'm a son of the mountains ♪ >> reporter: "son of the

mountains" is brad paisley's first album in six years. >> this is where i'm from. this is who we are. we believe in freedom, the moonshining spirit. ♪ where i'm from ♪ >> what's something about west virginia that might be a misconception people have? >> i think there's misconception that this state is nothing but hillbillies. there's a little bit of that, we have our share. this is a taste state that is unique to america. >> are you celebrating your youth in a way with some of these tracks? i really loved "so many summers." ♪ you only get so many summers ♪ >> that song is every bit written for me as it is for my kids. there's things that only happen once a year. summers, you start to realize how many you get. 80? if you're lucky. and so, yeah, time runs out. it's a sand through the hourglass type song. >> did you ever dream at 12 that

this is where you'd be? >> my goal was to be a country singer. i was on a local show and played that, "the wheeling jamboree." that was the dream. i was never stupid enough to think it really would happen. >> reporter: in the decades since he left home for music stardom, paisley says not all of the changes in west virginia have been for the better. >> this state's been ravaged. the opioid crisis, namely. there's a song on my next album that deals with this. ♪ if living here don't kill ya the medicine will ♪ >> reporter: that song and music video, "the medicine will," a stark look at the opioid abuse epidemic. ♪ if the devil's in the details well then hell's in >> reporter: giving voice to those hit hardest.

>> you don't need 3 million pills in a town like this. >> it was easy to justify, saying, "my back is hurting again." >> we were targeted by these companies that said, these are the people that will eat this stuff up, they're in pain, they've lost their jobs. if they are working jobs, they're hard jobs. they need this. and so to come back to that is heartbreaking. >> reporter: paisley also raising awareness on issues beyond u.s. borders, manager the one-year anniversary of the invasion of ukraine in february with his song "same here." ♪ want someone to share your hopes and dreams ♪ >> you have been really outspoken in support of ukraine. one of the songs off the new album features the president zelenskyy? >> having been there now, walked those streets, seen it, my heart is broken permanently for them. >> reporter: back in west virginia, it seems fans in his home state and his family and

wife of 20 years are the most excited for his new music. >> they're really excited to see this come out. there was a heavy influence of the music that i grew up loving making this record. west virginia, i'm from the state. i'm proud of it. >> byron: a man proud of where he's from. our thanks to rhiannon. up next, an american astronaut returns home after a record-setting space mission. with skyrizi to treat my skin and joints, i'm getting into my groove. ♪(uplifting music)♪ along with significantly clearer skin... skyrizi helps me move with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. and is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. skyrizi attaches to and reduces a source of excess inflammation that can lead to skin and joint symptoms. with skyrizi 90% clearer skin

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♪ >> byron: finally tonight, a space traveler returns home. nasa astronaut frank rubio landing back on earth after more than a year in space. 371 days. >> it's good to be home. >> byron: he had been conducting scientific experiments, including studying how we might eventually grow food on mars. rubio's mission was slated to be just six months long, extended after the capsule used to get back to earth sprung a leak. frank rubio saying he's looking forward to his new mission,