Couple learns their Maui home was destroyed through helicopter footage: 'It's nothing but ash'

LAHAINA, Hawaii (KABC) -- A couple who lost their Maui home during the wildfires said they learned the devastating news by watching helicopter footage of the destruction.

"I was just scanning it and pausing every time I could and eventually found our lot and it's nothing but ash, including both of our cars," said Dillon Mowery. "Everything's gone."

Mowery and his fiancée Amanda Mason spoke with Eyewitness News Sunday from Africa where they are currently on vacation.

The couple lives in Lahaina where dangerous fires consumed most of the historic town. The blazes are already the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century, with a death toll of at least 96.

Mason and Mowery said they know many of their friends are safe but are now homeless.

"I think I can speak for both of us on this is the immediate first feeling was overwhelming guilt," said Mowery. "Overwhelming guilt for being here, on a vacation, while everyone we know and love and every thing we know and love is in flames."

The danger on Maui hit close to home for the couple.

Mason's best friend, who lives in Newport Beach, has a sister named Brooke who was vacationing on Maui with her boyfriend. They were planning to stay at Mason's home in downtown Lahaina.

On the day the fires started raging, they dropped off their belongings and went to lunch but couldn't return.

"All of a sudden, I got a call from their mom that they can't get ahold of Brooke," said Mason.

Brooke's mother received a troubling phone call from her daughter as the winds picked up and the fire spread.

They lost communication but heard from her a couple of hours later.

"She was right in the middle of it and she said within 30 minutes, it was black at 4 p.m. It was like it was midnight out. They just knew that they weren't getting their stuff," said Brooke's sister Danielle Pancheri.

They ended up losing their belongings in the fire.

Mason and Mowery work in the tourism industry in Lahaina so the fires have also left them without jobs. Pancheri has since created a GoFundMe for the couple.

"People that I haven't talked to in a while reaching out, offering so much ... their home," said Mason.

"Their homes ... jobs," Mowery added. "You can't forget how many people you have in your corner until something like this happens."

The couple is planning to return to Maui soon and are working to help others in need.