where were you? no, we re matt. we re mad. we lost our town, we lost history, you know.dtt. we re mad. we lost our town, we lost history, you know.. we re mad. we lost our town, we lost history, you know.. we re mad. we lost our town, we lost history, you know. you guys messed up real bad. reporter: and hawaii emergency officials have said sirens weren t activated but other alerts by phone and broadcasts were. having seen that storm, we have doubts that much could have been done with a fiery fast moving fire like that. reporter: the scale of the devastating loss now unprecedented. it claimed at least 93 lives. and 3%, that is what is searched. when we pick up the remains and they fall apart, and so when you have 200 people running through
up, fueled by strong winds, burning the town in an out-of-control blaze that barreled toward the ocean. here s what we do know emergency sirens were not activated according to hawaii emergency officials. and firefighters called to the scene said some of the fire hydrants had low or even no water pressure you ran out of water with the nation s most deadliest wildfire yeah. yeah it was very disheartening. reporter: ina koehler and johnny verona are firefighters from lahaina that were there when the wildfire exploded. people running for their lives. people being carried out. people being rescued people getting stuck power lines were already down before the fire reporter: they too lost everything. you could just hear so fast that this is on fire, this is on fire, this is like how is this spreading so fast? reporter: as the fires burned, the people of lahaina were surrounded this video shows people jumping into their condo s pool to escape the flames.
warning sirens were not activated according to hawaii emergency officials. and while phone, television and radio alerts were, the governor says communications infrastructure was knocked out by the fire there s no emergency system, and most people their phones were gone before they could get it reporter: many have said they didn t receive those warnings it s coming reporter: amid the rush the only two escape routes out of lahaina, along the coast, were backed up. it s feared many of those who died were in their cars it just seemed like every second was ten hours waiting. and i kept saying do we get out and run reporter: for some the scale of the tragedy simply too much this is one of the toughest stories that i ve had to cover in my time here at hawaii news now reporter: raw emotion in the voice of dylan ancheta, a reporter for our nbc
harrowing stories of escape. both sides, left and right, are on fire. 19-year-old, noah, his mother and younger brother diving into the ocean to escape the flames. we ve kind of had it in the back of our mind the whole time that we wanted to be next to the water. and now, new questions over the emergency response to the fires. nbc news learning warning sirens were never activated, according to hawaii emergency officials. and while phone, television, and radio alerts were, the governor says telecommunications were knocked out by the fire. there was no emergency system, and most people, their phones were gone before they could get it. many have that they could receive any warnings. the state attorney general now opening an investigation to the response. amid the rush, the only to escape routes out of line that were backed up. the remains we are finding our through a fire that melted metal. we have to do rapid dna to identify them. some of those who died were