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.
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