Maui. Massive wildfires have ripped through the island for the past three days, burning down thousands of structures and some say they had almost no warning before the flames hit the fires surrounded their homes before they could even get out, there was nowhere to go. Were being told by officials here that the focus is quickly turning to rebuilding despite the widespread destruction, there is some cautious optimism among residents and business owners. Many of them lost everything in these fires, but theyre now thinking about how to move forward. Line is such a special place for so many visitors that come see us every year. Its the historic significance and just the memories there. And that will mean plenty of help from the feds as well as state and local governments. Theyve already ramped up their response. Opening shelters for thousands who were forced to evacuate and now private aid groups are starting to show up in big numbers as well. The red cross is here. The people are so kind. You know, we have food, we have water and a place to shower. And people who love us. And President Biden has declared a major disaster for hawaii, freeing up more federal resources for the rescue and Recovery Efforts in maui. Jake. Alexis fox news emergency evacuation efforts quickly became chaotic, many people saying they had no warning, no emergency alerts. They just had to figure it out for themselves and ran for their lives. We have had similar communication issues here. A amid the big fires and other emergencies, cctvs brooke zero is joining us now after looking into the Warning Systems and their shortcomings. Brooks. Well, christina, Emergency Communications experts say one big problem is the lack of precision. Many Warning Systems have, plus the fact many emergency alerts are sent out from a single centralized place. The agency issuing the warning often unaware of whats happening in real time and where. As homes and businesses burned all of mauis warning sirens stood silent. Some survivors say they were given no notice. Nobody saw this coming period, reminiscent of the 2017 wine country fires when electricity and cellular towers went down before messages were ever received. I think the problem is focusing all of this on particular agencies or particular operating centers that that may easily be overrun. Botterill is a retired public warning specialist with fema and cal oas in maui. While wireless emergency alerts were issued for the fires, he says the lay of the land poses the biggest danger. This was clearly an evacuation problem. Most of our towns are not designed to be evacuated quickly or efficiently. It could be why hawaiis highly touted sirens didnt sound. Lahaina is a lot like the town of paradise, where a 2018 wildfire claimed lives as residents frantically tried to escape narrow streets with few exit routes. In lahaina, one main road was impassable, the other became jammed up in mauis Hazard Mitigation plan. A map shows all of the towns homes and businesses in a high wildfire risk area, advising populations with limited access to information may not receive time. Critical information to enable them to reach places of safety. People are going to have to realize that this is a problem that they individually and as neighborhood boards and groups need to take on. They cant just expect that some Government Official somewhere is going to handle this. This is going to be a priority. Hawaiis governor promised better preparedness, moving forward. Campaigns have surfaced across the country urging people to sign up for public alert systems. But Communications Experts say its going to take new ideas and a new approach to keep neighbors in the know no matter who youve trained in advance, someone else will be in town that day. And if the warnings are not in a form that they comprehend, they may have problems that way. So the fix may be establishing more localized systems. For example, neighborhood groups, associations or even schools creating a Warning System that is more immediate and pinpoints those directly affected. Officials in maui plan to investigate when and who was notified about the fires. Im brooks jarocz ktvu fox two news. So brooks do we know whether or not anyone was notified at this point of the fires . So we do know there were some wireless alerts that went out and they were able to basically look at various parts of maui and decide where those alerts should be sent as to who received them. Thats the big question, because as those fires burn through many Communications Lines were torn down and those people then could not get those warnings that were greatly needed. Yeah sad situation all around. All right. Brooks rose in our newsroom. Brooks thank you. Teams of bay area volunteers left today to lend a much needed helping hand to residents on maui. Red cross volunteer tom tanner flew out of san jose today, heading for hawaii. Hes part of a team trained to deal with disasters. The red cross says its preparing to expand relief efforts if needed. Tanners role will be to serve as a liaison on getting critical information from Government Officials to the people who need it. My job, as i understand it, and it may change, is that ill be working with local local Government Officials to coordinate what they think needs to be done by the red cross. And ive got a lot of people to help me both locally and in the local government. People are trained to deal with disasters, so its not just me. Im a part of a whole team. Since the fires began, the red cross and its partners have provided more than 2100 shelter beds for residents and tourists evacuated from maui. Its also providing food and emotional support. A live look now at San Francisco international airport. Its among the hubs managing canceled or rerouted flights from the island. United airlines canceled all passenger flights to Kahului Airport instead, its sending empty planes to the island so they can be used to bring passengers back to the mainland. And Hawaiian Airlines diverting its flights to shuttle supplies to the hardest hit parts of maui. Joining us now is gina silva. She just arrived on the island of maui. Gina, first, lets talk about what it was like at the airport and getting to lahaina, because we know a lot of nonessential travel is being discouraged right now. It certainly is. You know, getting here on the plane, it was nearly empty. There werent a lot of people flying in here. And thats because city officials have been telling everybody, do not fly to this area unless absolutely needed. So at this point, getting here, we are actually at kahului warming gym. And this is one of the main shelters where they are bringing most of the residents whove lost their homes in lahaina fire. Now, you can see here a lot of volunteers, so many helpers. The red cross is here. People are bringing all kinds of necessities, you know, toiletries, paper, pampers, water, everything that is needed. Now. I want you to take a look at some footage that a local resident here shot with a drone because it is extremely dramatic and it shows exactly what has happened to this beautiful town. This region has been devastated. Those who witnessed the destruction, those who actually had to run for their lives to survive described what happened here as a raging inferno, an absolutely horrific scene. 67 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds of residents are still missing. Now, the person who shot this video is boat captain maui boat captain javier cantaloupes. What was your reaction as you were looking at that . Absolutely devastating. You know, as you can see from the footage, basically every single business has been lost there in front street, lahaina, hundreds of homes have been gone. So its just complete devastation. Absolutely. And so much heartache. So much pain. We spoke with some of the residents whove lost everything. Take a look at what they had to say. Its pretty devastating because theres good moments and bad moments. Im not a material person. I dont really care about my clothes or my laptop, but im glad we got out safe and im just hoping that, you know, all this generosity, everyones showing to us, i hope it doesnt wear off. Now, joining me live is megan erck with the red cross. Thank you so much for joining us. So what can people do . How can we help out so the best way to help, honestly, for everybody out there right now is to donate to red cross stores. A cash donation will go the furthest. We will get it to the people who need it the most. Cash donations are always going to be able to be utilized fastest and get to get the things to the people that need it. Get water, get other supplies. So cash donations are definitely the number one. As we take a look at the images, it looks like the entire town has been destroyed. How many people are in need of help . Thousands. There are thousands that are going to be in need. We still are are doing damage assessment. And were were getting trying to get a better bead on just how many residents have been destroyed, both in lahaina as well as upcountry. There were 21 residences destroyed as well in the cooler area upcountry. So theres need of course, the bulk of the need is in line and the devastation is almost total. And it is unimaginable. As somebody who lived here for over 15 years, its like a moonscape. I mean, its just its like a bomb was dropped. Its apocalyptic. Yeah thank you so much for speaking with us. We do have a volunteer here who asked me if i could do an interview with him because you want to get a message across her. What is it . Were live. Okay from what i found out when i was out there yesterday, a lot of the people are lack of gas. Theyre siphoning the gas out of the cars. They dont want to leave their homes because theyre worried about people going loot their house or enter their house when theyre not home. They need batteries, flashlights and pretty much baby stuff. The babies can eat anything, stuff like us. There are eating a lot of their food from their freezers. Ice is from island ice. Ive been hearing that theyve been given a lot of ice and water out there and other than that, so its propane gas, flashlights, batteries and radio. If they can find out whats what to do, because they dont really know. They dont have no tv, they dont have no cell phone reception. A lot of the places are out. When i was there yesterday, i only certain places it worked. Absolutely. Just so much destruction. Your reaction to seeing your community that way. Its painful. Yeah im so sorry, sir. And thats what we are encountering here. So many people heartbroken. They have lost absolutely everything. And how do they restart when the entire town seems to have been just its gone. Well be here throughout the night and well be bringing you more interviews. Ill send it back to you guys in the studio. All right, gina silva live for us on the island of maui. Gina, thank you. Cell service and other communications are still wiped out near lahaina , as we just heard. And from brooks earlier, Officials Say that these outages could last days, if not weeks. And its making it really difficult for people who are trying to find loved ones. One woman in maui has put together a spreadsheet to help. It lists the status of people in the lahaina area. If you dont see the name of the people youre looking for, you can add some of their information to the list and check back for updates. We have a link to that spreadsheet on the web link section of our website. You can also go to our home page for the very latest updates from officials in maui. All thats at ktvu. And if you would like to donate to relief for maui, just scan the qr code on your screen. He was a good friend of mine. I found out today and it hurts me. Friends hurt after a man who just moved to antioch was shot and killed. Coming up at 530. Police now searching for a group of young suspects and a change on the streets of San Francisco. Cruz and waymo get the green light to run robo taxis at all hours in San Francisco. So whats next . How soon the changes will take effect. Plus. Outside lands is underway. Well tell you what the Music Festival means to San Franciscos bottom line. And im tracking a warm up for your bay area weekend. Ill have a look at the temperatures expected for your neighborhood. Plus, the mugginess that is coming our way and why coming up warehouse ambience introducing togos new french dip sandwiches featuring fresh Artisan Bread piled high with tender roast beef, smothered with melty provolone cheese and served with hot au jus for dipping. Try the roast beef or pastrami french dips today only at togos later to put hundreds of robo taxis on the streets of San Francisco. The state will allow as many as 500 robots autonomous and driverless fare, collecting taxis to hit the streets of San Francisco, a move some people feel. We just arent ready for yet. Tom vacar looks at some of the rules and the next step for driverless taxis. Despite hours of public and industry comment on thursday, the cpuc, the California PublicUtilities Commission authorized phase one of allowing crews and waymo to begin carrying fare paying passengers in Driverless Cars in San Francisco. 24 over seven as many as 500 Autonomous Cars are involved in phase one, depending on the time of day fare paying passage. Others may or may not have a human safety driver at the wheel. There are also restrictions on where such cars may not travel, most notably freeways. Its important to note that the resolution before us recognizes that the department of Motor Vehicles may suspend or revoke a carriers permit if it determines based on the performance of its vehicles, that the carriers vehicles are not safe for the public operation. The cpuc may enforce suspension or revocation of a carrier under its own authority. One cyclist says this always alert non biased High Technology makes the road safer. These vehicles, they see us, they dont intimidate us. They dont act or act irrationally. And it makes it a safer city. But some now fear competition will decrease safety. I believe that the rollout would be very similar to uber and lyft and that in order to gain market share is very likely, they will flood the streets with cars. The interests of San Francisco. Thats why San Francisco supervisor aaron peskin wants a much slower rollout as well as a rehearing on the entire approval. They should take an incremental approach and should not have a full scale deployment until they have proven that the technology can deal with our First Responder situations that they have clearly repeat. Lee interfered with. As each phase is completed, the cars will be given more leeway. Ultimately leading to total autonomy. That is, of course, unless some unforeseen circumstances intervene. Tom vacar ktvu fox two news. Outside lanes is open for business as the gates open to concertgoers at three in the crowds are there ready for show. Ctvs Christien Kafton joining us now live from Golden Gate Park and christian, the shows are all a lot of fun, but also big business. Yeah outside lands brings tens of thousands of fans into San Francisco. And all those music fans bring their wallets with them as they make the outside lands festival kicked off with food, fun and music. The dip was great to start off. The band like to start it off. That was our First Experience today and this is my 10th year in a row. Actually concert goers say theyre ready to watch some of the biggest names perform live. Im here on trombone. Yeah. Kendrick lamar cuco, Janelle Monae. Kendrick lamar. Yeah the shows draw an estimated 75,000 people each day for the three day festival. And those concert goers mean big bucks. Its incredible Economic Development in the 15 years this festival has generated over 1 billion of Economic Impact and this weekend, 5000 people are working vendors inside say the pace is nonstop and say selling here raises their profile. Last year, we didnt actually have a brick and mortar. We were just a pop up at the time. So it was kind of hard to be like, hey, where do i get a sandwich . And your guess is as good as mine. And now whats going on, guys . No now its you can go into the haight street and grab a sandwich after the festival. Concert goers also spend big before going into the show. 17th in balboa market says outside lands is a welcome annual tradition. Absolutely. You know, its something that we are thriving, being able to be in a residential area. We are absolutely ecstatic to even just connect with people here as well. Customers say theyre spending big too much. No, but enough to last at least today. And the next day. And maybe well come back. Concert goers say while watching a good show is first and foremost on their minds. The notion that theyre helping to support local businesses is an added bonus. Yes, it doesnt really cross your mind until you mention it, but now that we know it, just a happy purchase outside land. Yeah, you can get a sense of the excitement there. Theres a big lineup this year. Fans tell me theyre excited to hear the headliners. Kendrick lamar, foo fighters, Janelle Monae and odesza. But they also say that theyre ready to see some of those up and coming bands as well. A lot going on here for the next three days in San Francisco. Were live in Golden Gate Park, Christien Kafton ktvu fox two news. All right, christian, thank you. Itll be a partly cloudy, mostly c