The charred sign of Fleetwood’s on Front St. hangs from the burned-out building on Aug. 12. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Mick Fleetwood was in Los Angeles visiting family when he got the news that Lahaina was burning and he was unable to get back home.

“I was trapped,” he said. “All the flights kept being cancelled. On the second or third day, I felt completely helpless, worried about my family (in Kula) and what was going on in Lahaina. Everyone didn’t know the gravity at that point.”

He bought emergency supplies and “ended up flying back on a private plane stuffed with anything and everything.”

Back on Maui, the legendary drummer discovered his restaurant, Fleetwood’s on Front St., was destroyed.

“The whole town had gone,” he said. “We had 120 people working, a lot of whom live on that side of the island. Information was hard to find. People had disappeared. The more we found out, everyone was in shock.”

Mick Fleetwood, whose restaurant Fleetwood’s on Front St. burned in the Aug. 8 Lahaina fire, is joining in a number of songs and concerts to benefit Maui wildfire relief efforts. Photo courtesy of Mick Fleetwood

Two of Fleetwood’s employees, cousins Joel Villegas and Felimon Quijano, are still missing, with their names among hundreds of others on a publicly released list of people unaccounted for since the fires.

Wondering how he could help with relief efforts, Fleetwood has contributed his musical talents to a number of projects that will benefit those impacted by the fires. He contributed drumming to a new song, a tribute to Lahaina composed by Pat Simmons, that the Doobie Brothers will release with proceeds benefiting relief efforts.

He will join Jake Shimabukuro on Friday and Saturday for the Hana Hou Music Festival at the Hawaii Theatre, which is billed as a Maui benefit concert and will be streamed free. At the event, he will drum with the newly formed Jake Shimabukuro’s Blues Experience. And, he will be among the many musicians playing at Henry Kapono’s “We Are Friends” benefit concert at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Sept. 23.

The teaming with Shimabukuro began some years back, Fleetwood said. The duo have recorded an album together and released a lovely instrumental version of Christine McVie’s signature song “Songbird” in July.

“We recorded about 10 songs,” he explained. “For a long time Jake kept saying we got to do something, and I didn’t know him very well. My girlfriend Elizabeth used to go to his concerts. We went down to the MACC and said it’s about time we actually do this and that’s how it started.”

Fleetwood said it was Shimabukuro’s idea to record “Songbird” before McVie passed away.

“It became unbelievably poignant when we recorded it because she was gone,” he said. “So now there’s an album with some instrumental versions of Fleetwood Mac stuff and some rock ‘n’ roll stuff. Hopefully, it will come out not too long from now. And I will be playing on Friday and Saturday. Raiatea (Helm) will be there and I’m excited to see her.”

Helm sang briefly with the first edition of his Maui-based Island Rumours Band. She just released “A Legacy of Hawaiian Song & String, Volume One.”

Fleetwood enjoyed contributing to the Doobie Brothers’ song for Lahaina.

“It turned out great,” he said. “I hope I played OK on it. I kept thinking, I’m a Doobie Brother, I’m a Doobie Brother. I’m happy to be part of it and attract attention to what is going on. Music helps bring attention. There’s more of these events coming along and I’m ready, willing and able to participate. So many great people have said I’m here, if you need me, let me know. Friends like Christopher Cross and Dave Mason.”

These unfolding benefit projects include the upcoming release of “Songs For Maui,” a live acoustic album featuring Jack Johnson, Paula Fuga and John Cruz, recorded at the MACC, which will support fire relief efforts.

Making Maui his home for many years, Fleetwood is keenly aware that “the island has a huge challenge.”

“We’ve all been really frightened and people have lost families and they’ve lost everything,” he said. “As a community, we have to all rally around what we can do, and this is certainly something that musicians can do. This whole momentum continues into the future. It’s great of course, to raise money, but raising awareness is even more valuable.”

Fleetwood had been scheduled to join Kapono at the “Friends” Maui benefit at the Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell in late August, “but I was unable to do it and did a Zoom thing that came on at the back of the stage, congratulating him. And I’m intending to be there (at the MACC).”

As for any other major benefits coming up, he said, “I’m sure there will be some event. I’m waiting with open arms to support whatever that might be. We’re all taking a breath to make whatever happens really effectual. I can’t believe there won’t be something fantastic whether it’s on the Mainland or here. Formative ideas are coming from so many places right now. Live-Aid was a jamboree of all who could do it, with a lovely result, and it all came together in a way that was unimaginable.

“The Doobies went out and wrote a song that’s connected to this island,” he added. “The amount of people that are connected vicariously, directly, romantically to these islands and specifically Maui, is unfolding in real time. I think we’re advantaged as this island and these islands represent so much.”

The rock legend said he was able to visit Lahaina after he returned to the island.

“I’ve driven through,” he said. “It’s devastated. It’s no longer there. What prevails is increasingly digging deep with what was there in some shape or form. The challenge is, this is unknown how to have something disappear and reappear, with dignity and grace. It has to be a holistic approach and done with grace and respect.”

The charred sign of Fleetwood’s on Front St. hangs from the burned-out building on Aug. 12. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo Mick Fleetwood, whose restaurant Fleetwood’s on Front St. burned in the Aug. 8 Lahaina fire, is joining in a number of songs and concerts to benefit Maui wildfire relief efforts. Photo courtesy of Mick Fleetwood

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