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 shouldnt have to be fighting for a fire station. Byron how did it all go wrong . Whos 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 devils in the details well then hells in bell a grahams 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. Its good to be home. Byron the american astronaut landing from the longest single spaceflight in history. With a. And to support my familys 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 . Hes got a good point. Did i mention bmo has more feefree atms than the two largest us banks combined . Uh, bmo . should i get rid of the mug . Bmo byron good evening. Thank you for joining us. Its 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 companys actions before and during the fires on maui. Heres abcs 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 cant breathe. Its 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 islands 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 fastmoving 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. Theres 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 preemptively 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. Theyre 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. Thats the sledgehammer solution. But until we get a better solution in place, this is the one that weve 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 electrics ceo called such plans controversial. We, like most utilities, dont 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 wasnt there a plan in place that basically stated, if were going to shut off power, were going to be able to get power to water pumps . Theres always opportunity for to us prepare, but we didnt. We didnt 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 theyve 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 mid2000s, 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 fundraise income late 2022 and raised nearly onequarter of their 2 million goal. They even got a plot of landau nated. Less than a year later, fire devastated lahaina. Though they dont know for sure the fire station would have made a difference, both think the county neglected Residents Health and safety by not prioritizing the stations construction. Weve got a billiondollar budget. Weve got the money to fix this thing. We shouldnt have to be fighting for a fire station. Reporter a spark from a downed power line can only cause a fire where theres fuel, and hawaii has plenty of that. Onequarter 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 theyve 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 alreadybusy 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. Whats 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. Weve knocked on legislator doors every two years. Weve 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 picketts nonprofit travels across the state, conducting free home assessments for locals who feel like they have nowhere else to turn. We dont know what would happen if that thing starts smoldering. Reporter Georgette Stevens signed up for an inspection on oahu, surrounded by dry grasses. Shes 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, theyre 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 doesnt happen anywhere else. Our thanks to whit. Stay with abc news for our continuing coverage of maui 8 owe 08. 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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 musics 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 wasnt 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 Fundraising Efforts that topped 1 million. But lately its been his music that he hopes will spark change. Im a son of the mountains reporter son of the mountains is brad paisleys first album in six years. This is where im from. This is who we are. We believe in freedom, the moonshining spirit. Where im from whats something about West Virginia that might be a misconception people have . I think theres misconception that this state is nothing but hillbillies. Theres 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. Theres things that only happen once a year. Summers, you start to realize how many you get. 80 . If youre lucky. And so, yeah, time runs out. Its a sand through the hourglass type song. Did you ever dream at 12 that this is where youd 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 states been ravaged. The Opioid Crisis, namely. Theres a song on my next album that deals with this. If living here dont kill ya the medicine will reporter that song and music video, the medicine will, a stark look at the opioid abuse epidemic. If the devils in the details well then hells in reporter giving voice to those hit hardest. You dont 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, theyre in pain, theyve lost their jobs. If they are working jobs, theyre 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 oneyear 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. Theyre 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, im from the state. Im proud of it. Byron a man proud of where hes from. Our thanks to rhiannon. Up next, an american astronaut returns home after a recordsetting space mission. With skyrizi to treat my skin and joints, im 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 and less joint pain are possible. Serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. Thanks to skyrizi, theres nothing like clearer skin and better movement. And that means everything. 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Most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. Ask about nurtec odt. 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. Its good to be home. Byron he had been conducting scientific experiments, including studying how we might eventually grow food on mars. Rubios 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 hes looking forward to his new mission,