Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP / Getty Images
As investigators work to determine what caused the Maui wildfires, several videos posted online may offer some clues. A video posted online by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources shows security camera footage recorded on August 7 just before 11 p.m. by the Maui Bird Conservation Center.
The video captures a large, bright flash that illuminates the trees.
"I think that is when a tree is falling on a power line," Jennifer Pribble, a senior research coordinator at the conservation center, said in a video posted on Instagram. "The power goes out, our generator kicks in, the camera comes back online, and then the forest is on fire."
Pribble said that she joined several workers who rushed to extinguish the flames.
"I grabbed two fire extinguishers, and we put out the fire on the edge of the property here," Pribble said. "Then ran back inside, grabbed more fire extinguishers, garden hoses, whatever I could find, and we went out and were just trying to contain it as best we could."
A second video, posted on Facebook Live by Shane Treu, shows him using a garden hose to wet down the road as a fire roars across the street. Eventually, a fire crew comes and tries to put out the flames as they quickly spread with the help of the gusty winds. The video ends as Treu said he was being told to evacuate the area.
Firefighters are making progress in getting the flames under control as the death toll increased to 111. Officials said that at least 1,000 people remain unaccounted for, and they expect the death toll to climb even higher as search and rescue teams make their way through the areas devastated by the fires.