The second deadliest u. S. Wildfire in a century incinerates paradise. This hour, the governor will deliver a new update, and well bring it to you live. Plus, yet another not guilty plea from donald trump in one federal case, as the Special Counsel is asking for an aggressive trial date in the other. Trump also not happy with the date they are seeking. What are friends for, by the way . A new expose on judge Clarence Thomas has unveiled an up roar, an entire 737 just for him . Im kaitlan collins, and this is the source. Tonight, were waiting to get a new update from the governor of hawaii and the mayor of maui. A news conference, we should note, is set for this hour. As fires continue to devastate the island. The death toll has now climbed to 53 people. And officials are warning that that number could only get even higher. President biden issued a Disaster Declaration to unlock federal resources and address the catastrophe while on the road today. Our prayers are with the people of hawaii but not just our prayers. Every asset we have will be able to them. Theyre going to need it. The Historic Town of lahaina has been left in ashes. The fires are now reportedo about 80 contained, but the scenes that are left behind are absolutely devastating. People are comparing it to a war zone. Look at this before and after image. You see that Largeuiing On thats the lahaina shos beach resort. Its sti standing tonight, but it doesnt look like anything else around it is. Heres another before and after. Thats an elementary school. You see that beautiful blue water nearby. On the right is the after photo, a total hellscape. The full scope of the devastation likely wont be known for several days. We do know Military Personnel from the coast guard are helping with the Search And Rescue missions that are happening, that are underway in hawaii tonight. Today the pentagon announced more than 100 National Guardsmen have been activated to help with those efforts. Joining me now is jeff hickman, Public Affairs director for hawaiis department of defense. I know the Hawaii National guard is conducting these Search And Rescue efforts, are going basically from house to house from our understanding. I mean, what are they seeing . Can you just describe the devastation for us . First of all, thank you for having me. It is a practical war zone, and the governor, thats what he said today. For him, its a war zone. Ive seen war zones in afghanistan and iraq, and it is. Everything is completely wiped out. You know, that used to be the capital of hawaii, and it was a bustling town. Some of those buildings were still there, all made out of wood. And that whole waterfront is gone. A lot of history. The worlds oldest or biggest danion tree gone. That school, my mom taught there. Theres a lot of people who have a lot of connections to that area. And a lot of things we have to rely on now are just memories. Whats it like to see the school that your mom taught at in the conditi tt it is after that fire . Its unbelievable. And, youno you had to wait until the sun came up to seet. And thank goodness the winds died down. The fires are still smoldering in the town, but to see it just flat and completely gone, i mean, all of those buildings i used to run in between it when i was small and she taught there. I just spent an anniversary there with my wife and family driving down front street. Its going to have a longlasting effect for that community. Yeah. I mean, i cant even imagine. And before you could even think about the recovery, the rebuilding efforts, i mean, the Search And Rescue missions that are underway right now, we talked about those being conducted by the National Guard. How does that even work . How are they going through this . Theyre the only people allowed in these areas, i should note. What are they seeing so far . Yeah, you know, were assisting the Police Department and fire department, other First Responders. We have 30 soldiers and airmen from the Hawaii National guard assisting with that mission. We have another 30 assisting the police with the check points, just guarding the area to keep people out. The public is not allowed in there yet. And its going to take months for the process to begin recovery. You know, weve got to go in first building the building house to house, block by block, and look for bodies. We have a wide Search And Rescue team that thats their specialty. Fema and with the federal governments help, theyre sending people as well. A lot of the Emergency Support functions coming down. Were going to have to bring in counselors and chaplains to assist with our soldiers and airmen who see what they see. Im sure the police and fire are going to need it too. Theyre going to first go through, try to find as many body and loved ones, missing personnel as they can. Then next is a little bit of cleanup. Then its allowing the business and homeowners to go in and grab their effects. So, the public is not going to be allowed in for a long time, and its going to be a very long process before they can rebuild. We know the fema administrator has just arrived in hawaii tonight. When it comes to what theyre looking for, do you know how many people are still missing at this hour . Unconfirmed reports, but weve heard up to 1,000. And, you know, just living here in hawaii, Everybody Knows somebody on that island. So, the connections on facebook, has anybody seen my uncle, has anybody seen my family, people posting pictures of their dogs that they had to leave so fast they left their dogs in the house and they dont know if their dogs are still alive or if their house is still up. So, yeah, the number is very high. Like you said, the death count officially is 53 right now. Im sure its going to go up. But the families and the people who were missing someone and what theyre going through on top of losing everything, its you cant put into words. Just to hear you say that 1,000 people you believe are still missing tonight is astonishing. Yeah. Thats a very, very high number. Theres lists that people are sharing. Theres a lot of red cross is really helping out. You know what . The state is stepping up and showing its aloha. Theyre giving so many blankets, food, and items that maui and the state is saying, slow down on the items. People are giving so much because they want to help in some way. So, were trying to steer a lot of people to giving money. So, word is getting out on the best way to donate and the best way that you can help. Weve had people from the mainland u. S. Calling, do you need doctors . Do you need help . Well help. And people are just reaching out. Its great to see at this time. Yeah. Were going to speak to a doctor who is helping out on the ground in just a few moments. But, you know, you talked about these Search And Rescue missions, these National Guardsmen and the Police Officers are going through and trying to find people but potentially also recovering bodies. Whats the biggest challenge with an effort like that, given that so many of these neighborhoods are just incinerated, that roads are blocked, that theres ash everywhere . I think one of the Biggest Challenges is that, you know, the National Guard is a communitybased organization. Theyre made up of people from that community. I heard somebody else say it today on the radio. Imagine, you know, going to the neighborhood and going to houses you know and finding somebody or even a neighbor, you know, someone you knew of. But i would say that would be the hardest part is being from that community and then going in there and just having to do your duty, assist those First Responders and everybody else to try to get back to, you know, a sense of, you know, recovery and the buildback. So, to me, the hardest part is being from there and knowing what used to be there and whats there now. And you grew up there. How long have you lived there . I lived there all the way up until high school. So, i grew up in and theres a fire near that side of the island too. There are three on maui. That one didnt affect the urban area nearly as much as the one behind them. Lahaina was the best resort town. The best halloween was right there on front street. Everybody goes there for fishing. The water is beautiful. The beaches are gorgeous. Tourists flock there because of the water. It was amazing. It was a neat town, and im sure its going to build back and be stronger than ever. Its going to be a while before that happens. I know were speaking to you in your official capacity. This is so clearly personal for you. Have you ever seen anything like this . Being in the National Guard, we share a lot of stories with other National Guardsmen from other states, and the california National Guard and what they had to do with the Paradise Fire and some of those other fires in the last decade and hearing their stories of what they had to do, seeing their pictures because were all Public Affairs so we see the photos and the video it looks just like that. And we never thought that would happen here. Youre talking a town that got enveloped. There are 80mileperhour gusts and it happened at night from a hurricane that didnt even hit hawaii. It was a whole bunch of things aligned the wrong way, and it just it surprised everyone. No, we never thought that it could happen and ive never seen anything like this. And what are you hearing about how busy hospitals are . Have you heard anything about the number of injuries and what that looks like from that perspective . I heard there was about 30 burn victims, three that are in critical. I think those guys have been evacuated to owahu for followon more serious service. I heard there was a firefighter who is in stable condition. So, hes doing okay. Thats just so far. Theres still people on that side of the island. Theyre doing bus evacuations. So, the visitors, theyre taking them to the airport and theyre flying home or flying to owahu to stay in the convention center, which was set up. If theyre a resident, theyre being taken to a shelter. One of the big concerns we have the amount of resources we have for the island. Were trying to get the visitors out that can get out and go home and take care of the residents that are there and preserve what weve got. Right now we are bussing people out slowly. Theres still roads that are closed. Theres still buildings and other fires that are brush fires are, like you said, theyre more contained than they were yesterday. We have two Chinook Helicopters from the Hawaii National guard assisting with fire suppression. And they told us yesterday they could see a difference. So, yeah, a lot of things are changing and theyre going to start moving in a different direction. But, yeah, its just amazing. You know, this is something weve never seen and never expected. I just i can hear it in your voice that youre just how surprised you are and what youre being forced to do, not just you, your neighbors as well. Its a little bit of comfort whatever im going through, the long hours im doing to get messaging out like this, coming on your show and share the message of what our great First Responders and National Guardsmen are doing, to get to hear the stories. So, you know, its an honor for us to do that. Just imagine the people who lost their homes, their businesses, pets, friends, and what theyre going through. If weve got to work hard to do it, we will. And of course those estimated 1,000 people that are still missing tonight. Jeff hickman, i know that theres a lot going on right now, and we thank you for your time tonight and for joining us. Thank you very much, kaitlan. I want to bring in dr. Reza denesh, a private doctor on maui. He founded a nonprofit that provides free health care. Doctor, i know a lot has been going on for people in your profession, have your skills. We just heard from jeff, who was talking about the hospitals. And they are dealing with burn victims. What are you seeing on the ground . First of all, thanks for having me. Youre absolutely correct. The company i started and we did a nonprofit called moto for the people. It couldnt have happened at a better time. Ive been an e. R. Doc on long island Fighting Covid and doing house calls. I realized on wednesday morning, which was yesterday, i knew the fires were happening. Everyone got the warnings. My clinic is the south side of we didnt know what was happening in lahaina at all. Nobody had Text Messages or images or anything like that. Once the paramedics got there and we know each other, they kind of text, doc, theres bodies on the ground, a lot, and theyre around. I realized this is serious. I decided to open up my clinic, make it free for anyone that needed it, called in extra staff, and i rounded up people in my mobile unit that im sitting in and headed out to the field just to help. I went out to the shelter they set up at war memorial. Then i went to maui high. Everyone gave me food and water and supplies that they thought i would need for lahaina, which was a good call. I had my own medical stuff and i hit the ground running and called the mayor. We went through another road, which was very scary at that time because i didnt realize what i was walking into and how devastated the road and the damages were. Trees were on the ground, huge concrete blocks were pulled out. There were it reminded me a little bit of the pandemic and covid, how you see images of new york. Being there, it was like an atomic bomb went off. I could see small flames. I could see trees burning. As we rolled through in my big red van ill show you guys the tour in a minute if we have time people came out of the woodwork, survivors. We had another shelter on the west side. How are people going to get there . The shelter is a couple miles away. A guy came up to me, hey, im here to help. Food. I havent eaten in two days. I did a lot of stuff providing water and food. And i started capturing patients that had eye injuries, respiratory issues, people just in shock and denial, some people refusing to go with me. They want to sit where they were. Theyre looking for their dogs. It was very traumatic for me and im an e. R. Doc and i trained in ucla in l. A. Ive seen a lot of trauma. To be there on the ground level ive seen earthquakes in l. A. Ive seen floods in hawaii from rains. But this was something nobody expected. I dont think anyone knew how severe it was. And i was the first medical team and the only one that is on foot. The red cross is set up in shelters. You actually if im right, you actually ended up helping a woman. One of the most devastating things we heard about this is people were literally jumping into the water because it was the only safe place. You helped a woman who had to do just that to escape from the fires. You ask someone how did you get hurt, how are you, where are you from . And i was dealing with her stress and cuts and wounds and respiratory issues. And i asked her, like, so, i hate to be nosey and ask. What was it like . She was like, well, i just looked out the window and saw the fire. You got a fire and didnt get enough warning. How can you predict this . She said she saw the flames coming, she grabbed what she could, left her bird to burn, left her other pets. And i dont know how she was holding it together talking to me. She just started running to the ocean. So, im envisioning the time, sunset time running to the ocean for your life, jumping on the water. She goes, people got out on rafts and paddled out. Theres people out at sea for all i know. And shes telling me, her friend who had a lot of respiratory issues and had some Smoke Inhalation hung on. She hung on for seven hours before things cooled off and they swam back to shore to walk or recooperate. She goes, my friend died. So, your friend was in the Water Holding on next to you and she died . Im having flashbacks of the titanic and that movie scene. You cant make that stuff up. This is real. I record the video and became a newscast. Thats how a lot of people saw that. She wasnt the only one. We had another guy propel three stories down with a rope he had. We were like, were you in the military. He was like, no, i just had this rope. He felt the walls so hot he knew not to open his front door. He went out the window. Everybody in his building died. Some people climb buildings that then burned and they hid behind it. I dont know how they survived and nobody had reached out to them. Im lucky. I think the power was out, but i was driving over electrical lines and doing some kind of crazy stuff. Its like my calling and my mission to go out there and i had my nurses and team with the medical supplies. So, we were able to triage 20 or 30 people there. We went to another shelter on the west side. The problem people dont realize, its not like im an e. R. Doc, its like the burns people, they die or they survive. If they survive, they have a very low likelihood, especially on a rural island to survive. We dont have a burn center. Doctor, just to hear your stories and to hear you be one of the first people there, i mean, its just amazing. We know that you have a lot of important work that you are doing right now. Were grateful that you joined us tonight. Thank you, but were going to let you get back to that. Thank you for your time tonight. For those of you who are watching at home and want to be able to help, you heard from jeff there just a few moments ago talking about the outpouring of support. Cnns impact your world team has vetted organizations. They are aiding in these recovery efforts, and you can find out how you can help these Wildfire Victi