. —— fire chief brad ventura. by cheap rad ventura. -- fire chief brad ventura.— chief brad ventura.afternoon, brad ventura, chief brad ventura. good - afternoon, brad ventura, fire chief. i want to give our deepest condolences by those affected by this incident. it's affected by this incident. it's affected a lot of us personally, members of our community, ourfamilies and our department. 0ur community, ourfamilies and our department. our hearts go out to all of them. i will give you a bit of background on how the day unfolded. firefighters faced with multiple wildfires beginning just after midnight tuesday morning. these firefighters were compounded by extreme winds we are all aware of. the first fire burned about 675 acres. by 11 o'clock in the morning, that is when the lahaina fire began, fuelled by gusts up to 60 miles per hour. some even reported up to 80 miles per hour. in the localised area. we redirected resources from many parts of the island to respond. and after noon, an additional fire started of several areas on that afternoon and resources were also directed up there. a

maui fire chief brad ventura, in his first national interview since the fires, getting emotional when talking about the firefighters under his command. >> the firefighters are hurting. this is their community. this is their home. these are their people. nobody in our department is unaffected by this. we care about our firefighters first and our community as well. and if they can't go to work in a healthy way, then it's difficult for them to serve. >> reporter: first responders facing scrutiny after some ran out of water fighting the fires. does it frustrate you to think, knowing what they were going through, that they may not have been able to have water, they needed help? >> certainly. they need water. that resources is so precious to us. and when they were running out, they were so disheartened and, you know, i felt for them because that is their -- that is their lifeline to helping the community and and getting out of there safely. >> reporter: firefighters pushing into the flames despite more than a dozen losing their own homes. fema says that everyone displaced by the fires will

i was in a helicopter, with our fire chief, brad ventura, and the site is unbearable. barely bearable. it is heartbreaking to see the desolation. and one of the things that stuck in my mind was passing over some of the leveled homes, and yet people were parked near their homes, just crying, because in disbelief that this could happen , so swiftly, and so completely, so, this is the sad part that we all have to deal with, and now it is our turn, the county counsel, and the administration , to do something about it. you mentioned-- someone mentioned that the death toll has risen, it is probably going to go up a little higher, because what has happened, the rescuers have, at this point in time, covered the streets and the yards of these hundreds of homes that were burned down. tomorrow, they will enter the homes. they had to make sure, before entering the homes, they had to make sure that the gas lines, and electrical lines, and the houses ready to collapse, would not impede searching within the houses. so, tomorrow might be even more difficult day. >> yes. very difficult

we spoke to chief brad ventura in his first national interview since this tragic disaster. >> we're still in a sense of shock. both myself and our department and our community. as the days go on. it sinks in a little bit more. >> this video from august 7th capturing what could be an early trigger to the deadly fire. >> it's windy. >> and then there's a flash. and i think that's when a tree is falling on a power line. >> by the next morning, on august 8th at 6:37 a.m. in la, chinatown, shane trio uses a garden hose to battle a fire that started started from up the road. >> there. and all of that is still burning. >> authorities declaring that brush fire under control around 9 a.m, but then as the weather blew through town and power lines continued to drop all around them, when they left the fire, they were confident that that fire was cold. but fires continued to ignite when the winds caused a flare up to spread by 5 p.m, flames tearing through the town. >> all units, all units were able to get out of the center of this fire. >> firefighters say the fire hydrants were running dry after the