mema, maui's emergency management agency, did not sound the island's network of sirens, and instead issuedext alert at the height of the fire that few people got. >> the maui emergency management agency had the ability and authority to activate emergency sirens if they felt that was the right thing to do. unfortunately, they didn't in this case, and many people didn't get a warning about this fire until they saw the smoke coming towards them. (flames crackling) >> oh my god. it just turned to-- to night. oh my god. >> there were no emergency sirens from our emergency management system. and that just shocked the hell out of me. there were no phone emergency notifications, which also shocked the hell out of me. >> narrator: u'i kahue lived in a densely populated neighborhood called kuhua camp, along lahainaluna road. she and her neighbors, andrew amano and peggy balisco, fled when they saw the fire approaching. >> smoke got darker and looked like it was coming closer. so we gathered what we could and said, you know, we've gotta get out of here. my house was already on fire. my truck was alre