Maui couple spent hours in ocean to escape wildfire Elizabeth Vargas Reports
As fire erupted in Maui, Mike Cicchino and his wife jumped into the crashing waves and spent more than three hours in the ocean.
Elizabeth Vargas: How did you get to the ocean, I know the fire came so fast you barely had time to think?
Mike Cicchino: We pretty much just tried driving the opposite way of the fire, but immediately traffic was everywhere, nobody knew where to go.
Elizabeth Vargas: Nobody was directing you, nobody was telling you anything, right?
Mike Cicchino: No, when it happened I knew if I called 911 the phone might drop out, or even if I could get hold of 911. So, my first thought was to call my Mom because she is in Wailuku and she could contact 911 and see where we are supposed to go. I immediately got a call back from my Mom a minute later that she talked to 911 and all they could tell her was to follow the traffic, follow everybody else. That made us get into a giant traffic jam where nobody could get out and basically fire was everywhere. You had people running to the left and the right and into the ocean. Nobody knew where to go there was not enough warning.
Elizabeth Vargas: We are looking at this video now of the fire, we just saw a moment ago a shot of you standing in the water with all these other people standing in the water I guess up to your waist, even up to your rib cage it was the only safe place you could find?
