Hawaiian Electric Claims It ‘De-Energized’ the Power Lines Hours Before Second Maui Wildfire
A new Maui brush fire forced brief evacuation of Lahaina neighborhood.
We recently reported that the County of Maui sued Hawaiian Electric for allegedly causing the deadly wildfires that swept through West Maui and completely destroyed the town of Lahaina.
Now Hawaiian Electric is pointing the finger back at the County of Maui. It asserts it had de-energized powerlines ahead of a second wildfire that broke out on the island in the afternoon.
The utility said power lines toppled by high winds likely caused the morning brush fire in Lahaina but electricity had been off for hours when a second fire occurred that afternoon.
Hawaiian Electric’s stock soared more than 40% on Monday.
“We were surprised and disappointed that the County of Maui rushed to court even before completing its own investigation,” Hawaiian Electric CEO Shelee Kimura said in a statement Sunday. “We believe the complaint is factually and legally irresponsible.”
“Unfortunately, the county’s lawsuit may leave us no choice in the legal system but to show its responsibility for what happened that day,” Kimura said.
This is consistent with an earlier video report that captured the start of the first wildfire, which was likely caused by a powerline. However, a second one was reported to have started several hours later.
It was that second fire that caused the devastation.
The first fire broke out around 6:30 a.m., the Maui County Fire Department responded and later reported that it was “100% contained.” The fire department left the scene about 2 p.m. when the fire was considered “extinguished,” according to Hawaiian Electric’s statement.
The company said its workers then identified a second small fire at 3 p.m. near the same area — “about 75 yards away from Lahainaluna Road in the field near” Lahaina Intermediate School at “a time when all of Hawaiian Electric’s power lines in West Maui had been de-energized for more than six hours.” The Hawaiian Electric employees allegedly called 911 to report the blaze, which firefighters were unable to control before it engulfed Lahaina.
Unfortunately, the wildfires are continuing to be ignited on Maui.
A brush fire burned 7 acres on Saturday and prompted Maui authorities to briefly evacuate residents from a neighborhood of Lahaina — just a few miles from the site recently ravaged by blazes — before firefighters brought it under control.
Firefighters doused flames from above using a helicopter and with hoses on the ground, said John Heggie, a spokesperson for Maui County’s Joint Information Center.
The fire prompted an evacuation order for a residential area of Lahaina in the hills above Kaanapali resort hotels, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said. The fire was burning in the Kaanapali Hillside from Anapuni Loop to West Mahipulu, the agency said.
Currently, 115 remains have been retrieved, with only 43 publicly identified. The list of missing has been narrowed to 388.
A great deal more investigation is warranted to identify all the contributing factors to this disaster.
No mention by NYTimes @edwrdmoreno that the Hawaiian government has slow-walked/blocked Hawaii Electric's $190 million 2022 proposal to mitigate power line risk.
Pointless solar and battery projects get green-lighted. But basic safety is stalled.https://t.co/hgAJDykiTx
— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) August 18, 2023
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Unfortunately, the wildfires are continuing to be ignited on Maui.
So it is globull warming then? The earth is spontaneously combusting.
So if the lines were de-energized, what’s the cause of the 2nd fire? Do we have any drones in the air? Perhaps we’ll find footage of an arsonist here as we did at the last “climate-change” caused fires.
Get with the program. Arsonists are a consequence of “Climate Change”. They are stimulated by the prospects of ever larger fires. /s
Not sure what happened. Unrelated I’m sure but anybody remember the green laser show over Hawaii from the Chinese “weather” satellite?
But did Hawaii Electric also remember to cut the power to Klaus Schwab’s directed energy weapon?
It’s possible that it was just a “hot spot” missed from the first fire. I’ve had ashes flair up two days later when I’ve rebuilt my pit for a new burn – and I douse my fires pretty thoroughly.
Yup. Some embers wafted over from the first fire. Just took a while for it to brew up.
Nah. It’s gotta be the electric company’s fault. After all, that’s where we’re assigning blame so it must be true. Right?
We actually had a fireworks soaking in a bucket of water overnight. In the morning it shot off more rockets.
De-energized? Were there complaints of blackouts?
I don’t think there was anybody left alive to complain.
Obviously it’s Godzilla.
We need an independent commission to investigate catastrophic wildfire events. Something along the lines of the Challenger disaster committee. Richard Feynman forced the wider committee into …uncomfortable territory. We need that.
We’re being lied to on multiple levels. I’ve seen county and state officials claim “cooking fires” were the cause of at least three 5000+ acre wildfires, one of those being a massive fire in SoCal.
Given the state of politics today, expect any such committee to blame HE for not installing more “renewables” but really, ruinables.
The circle of blame is beginning. The problem for Maui County is HI Electric likely has a handle on the evidence needed to show what their actions were. The statement made by HI Electric tells us they won’t sit back passively and let Maui County or State officials use them as a punching bag.
But the officials are dong a great job of covering up the extent of the disaster. Hum…. no sirens and no cell phone alerts… all of which would have been effective. The officials were out having fun, fun, fun till the T-bird was melted away. The Left’s Grand Plans can’t be bothered with the day to day details of reality.
The glaring issue is the incompetence of the public officials. HI has some serious nepotism and ‘good old boy’ system problems. Wouldn’t matter so much when they gave the nod to hire someone’s brother/cousin IF that hire was competent. This pattern of returning to a spoils system in blue enclaves is beginning to show up across the Nation.
In what might be a related story: 79 climate arsonists were arrested in Greece.
A Greece fire?
Very nice.
One BIG question ” WHO authorized the ROAD BLOCK to PREVENT the residents from ESCAPING???
Police or fire chief (don’t remember which) authorized the roadblock because there were downed live wires beyond the roadblock area. It was a valid concern at the time. When the fire came up behind everybody, no change in that order ever arrived and cops on the scene continued to “just follow orders.” Did anybody on the scene ask for authorization to open it up? Ah, investigation time.