Amna: Welcome to the newshour. At least 55 people are confirmed dead tonight after fast-moving wildfires ravaged the island of maui. But the search operation is far from over. Those who did manage to survive now face the daunting task of piecing their lives back together. Stephanie sy has our report. Stephanie: The smoke has all but cleared over lahaina, revealing what's been lost. The beloved, centuries-old town on the coast of maui was once the capital of the hawaiian kingdom. Today, it's a burnt out shell of itself. >> This is going to take years, years to recover. And it just breaks my heart that all the history from back in the waning days of the 1800's. Dust, ash and dust. Stephanie: Firefighters worked to extinguish the lingering flames. Several wildfires erupted on the island this week, with lahaina bearing the brunt of the damage. Homes, businesses and historic landmarks -- many built out of wood -- reduced to gray piles of ash. The street signs melted. Satellite images show how the area looked before and after the fire tore through. Gov. Green: When you see the full extent of the destruction in lahaina, it will shock you. It does appear like a bomb and fire went off. Stephanie: Yesterday, Hawaii's governor Josh green said it's the worst disaster the state has seen since 1960, when a tsunami claimed the lives of 61 people. Gov. Green: It's a heartbreaking day. Without a doubt. What we've seen today has been catastrophic. We are seeing loss of life. As you know, the number has been rising and we will continue to see loss of life. Stephanie: Governor green insisted today that evacuees will return home, even as search and rescue efforts continue. Bodies are still being found in the rubble of the some 1000 buildings that the fire-leveled. Business owner Tiffany kidder Winn shared this video as she walked down lahaina's main drag. The gift store she owned, established in 1971, is gone. Tiffany: It's everywhere. Looking up the hillside. All the homes are gone, all the buildings are gutted. Stephanie: Kidder Winn has lived on maui for 20 years. She says the fires will have lasting impacts. Tiffany: Lahaina is such a special place and not just for the people that live there, but for so many people that -- sorry. I'm holding it together, but I'm on the edge. For the community and for all of the islands. Stephanie: Over the past few days, the hawaiian army national Guard has dropped more than a hundred thousand gallons of water on the flames. With the fire 80% contained, residents are starting to ask why they didn't get more warning. Hawaii boasts a state-of-the-art outdoor warning system, but the sirens never went off. Officials say widespread power outages disrupted other attempts to notify the public. As it was, many were completely caught off guard. They ran for their lives and in some cases, swam for their lives. Vixay: We left our vehicle and myself and my wife and our five kids, we all got into the ocean. We found a floating board that we hung onto. The ocean almost swept away my kids a few times. Stephanie: Even with nerves frayed, the community came together to gather food, water and other essentials for displaced residents. >> Blankets, diapers, water... Come on and get it. Stephanie: The aftermath of the disaster has left maui to grapple with physical and emotional scars. But the spirit of aloha is alive. For "The pbs newshour," I'm Stephanie sy. Geoff: -- Amna: For more on the fires, we turn now to Chad Blair in Honolulu. He's a reporter and editor for Honolulu civil beat. Welcome and thank you for joining us. The images and stories seem to get more and more horrifying I the day. What kinds of stories are your reporters hearing on the ground? Chad: The grief has been overwhelming, as you can imagine. Maui, although it is a separate island, we have all been there, we have family and friends on the various islands. One of our reporters had to evacuate along with her husband at 1:00 in the morning on that Tuesday. Her rental unit were destroyed, fortunately she and her husband are safe. But everyone has been touched by this tragedy. The video speaks for itself. It is a war zone, and apocalypse. Amna: What about from authorities right now? Do they have a full picture of the damage and loss yet? Chad: We don't know that right now, certainly not a dollar figure. At least 1700 structures have been destroyed. There are at least 1000 people unaccounted for. Hopefully we will learn more about that. It's very likely those casualties, those fatalities, will increase from 55 and up. We are not getting a lot of information. The focus has been recovering, eating people to safety and making sure fires are contained. Amna: I understand you're trying to get more information. We just heard about our colleague report on the warning system that never seemed to go off. Have you heard anything about a timeline or evacuations issued? Was the warning system supposed to go off? Chad: Every indication so far is the warning system did not go off at all, people were self evacuating. We are not getting full answers from officials. There is no official timeline that has been presented. We are not hearing from the electric company, did a utility pole spike -- spark the fire? It's frustrating when we are trying to find more information. We believe there will be more in the days to come but for now there's not more. Amna: Tell us about supplies on the ground. We've heard about the number of the buildings that have been destroyed. What about medical services, hospitals, clinics? Are they still functioning? Can people get medical support or medicine if needed? Chad: They can get medical support if needed, although there were reports that the hospitals on maui were overwhelmed. That has not been the case. Few reports of injuries, that is encouraging. We have been concerned about morgue space for the bodies. So far the medical facilities and operations are fully functioning. Amna: What would you say are the biggest challenges right now? We've heard that the fire seems to be mostly contained -- correct me if I am wrong -- but search-and-rescue continue. What are officials up against? Chad: The biggest challenge is communication. Fiber-optic cables were melted, at least 29 utility poles down. Here we are using satellite phones to communicate with teams on the ground. In terms of officials, emergency responders, they are using radios. You cannot use a cell phone to get through. Communication has been part of the challenge. There were a lot of roads blocked by cars. Much of that has been cleared but these continue to be concerns. Amna: It is unimaginable, the scale and suddenness of the loss. We see the pictures and it is hard to imagine how quickly this unfolded. For people on the ground there, what is the greatest need? A lot of people are seeing these images and wondering what can I do? Chad: A lot of folks are donating to charity you can go to the red cross, a number of organizations that are bringing food and water and clothing, all sorts of supplies. The aloha spirit mentioned earlier is a strong. If you need to find a place to donate to, Google the maui fire and you will get plenty of suggestions. Amna: I have to ask, I know it is difficult sometimes for reporters covering a story at the same time they are living through it. What has that been like for your team? Chad: They are terrific. One of our reporters is still there on the ground. Several photographers and reporters have returned to our offices but they are still working to get the story out. Amna: We are so grateful to all of them and to you. Chad Blair, we will be following your reporting and we are keeping everyone there in our thousand prayers. They give for joining us. Chad: Thank you. ♪♪
