The electricity company accused of negligence that caused wildfires which killed at least 115 people in Maui allegedly removed key evidence from a scene close to where the blaze initially broke out.
Hawaiian Electric, whose power lines allegedly sparked the fires which tore across Maui two weeks ago, removed equipment from a substation before investigators could search for clues about how the fires started, it is claimed.
The allegations surfaced on Thursday after at least nine lawsuits were filed against the company. Those suits, brought by residents of the island and Maui County, say the company failed to switch off power despite weather conditions which meant lines could be damaged and spark a fire.
Investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) – which investigates fire and arson-related crimes – arrived in Maui last week to help with the probe into how the deadly infernos began.
But by the time they arrived, utility crews had cleared equipment including damaged powerlines from a key scene of the fires and moved it to a warehouse, according to a Washington Post report. The scene, a power substation Lahainaluna Road, is close where the fires are believed to have started.
Electricians work on power lines in the aftermath of the Maui wildfires in Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 16, 2023
Hawaii Electric, whose power lines allegedly sparked the fires which tore across Maui two weeks ago, removed equipment from a substation before investigators could search for clues about how the fires started, it is claimed
The fires are thought to have started shortly after 6.30am on Tuesday, August 8. A picture filmed by a Lahaina resident shows the initial blaze, which was brought under control before a flareup quickly spread across the town
Details emerged after the FBI released a list of nearly 400 names of people still missing after the fires.
The removal of the equipment could be a breach of national guidelines on how utilities should preserve evidence after wildfires, it is claimed.
Hawaii Electric said it is in ‘in regular communication with ATF and local authorities and [is] cooperating to provide them, as well as attorneys representing people affected by the wildfires, with inventories and access to the removed equipment, which we have carefully photographed, documented and stored’.
Hawaiian Electric CEO Shelee Kimura
Michael Wara, director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University, told the Post: ‘If a lot of equipment is already moved or gone by the time investigators show up, that’s problematic because you want to observe where the equipment was relative to the ignition site.’
Wara said ‘once you remove these things, it’s much harder to understand what happened’.
ATF investigators are working to determine ‘the origin and cause of the wildfires’.
The Maui probe is only the agency’s third wildland fire investigation. Such inquiries usually fall within the remit of the Forest Service of the US Department of Agriculture, but that agency is not involved because the fires weren’t on national forest lands.
Lawyers representing families in Lahaina initially asked Hawaiian Electric on August 10 to preserve evidence, the Post reported.
A response from the company the following day said it was ‘taking reasonable steps to preserve its own property’.
But it added that the number of search and rescue teams on the ground made it ‘possible, even likely, that the actions of these third parties, whose actions Hawaiian Electric does not control, may result in the loss of property or other items that relate to the cause of the fire’.
The response added: ‘Hawaiian Electric will take reasonable steps to preserve evidence but cannot make any guarantees due to the rapidly evolving situation on the ground, which also is not within our control.’
On August 18, a judge signed an order that outlined how the company should treat evidence around the ‘suspected area of origin’.
Maui County filed a suit against Hawaiian Electric on Thursday.
The lawsuit was filed in the Second Circuit Court in Hawaii and names Maui Electric Company, Limited, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Hawaii Electric Light Company, Inc., and Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. as defendants.
It alleges the companies acted negligently when they did not power down their equipment following the Red Flag Warning issued by the National Weather Services on August 7.
The Maui wildfires, which erupted on August 8, have killed at least 115 people but the death toll is expected to climb.
Maui County is suing energy firm Hawaiian Electric for the damages caused by the wildfires on the Island
The lawsuit, filed in the Second Circuit Court in Hawaii, alleges the utility company and its subsidiaries on Maui acted negligently when they did not power down their equipment following the Red Flag Warning issued by the National Weather Services on August 7
The Maui wildfires, which erupted on August 8, have killed at least 115 people but the death toll is expected to climb
The lawsuit claims power lines were still energized when they were downed by strong winds from Hurricane Dora and ignited the dry grass and brush that caused the deadly fires.
The suit asks for an unspecified amount of money from the power company.
Maui County says the failure to maintain the system and the grid caused systemic failures and started three fires on the island.
‘Maui County stands alongside the people and communities of Lāhainā and Kula to recover public resource damages and rebuild after these devastating utility-caused fires,’ the lawsuit states.
‘These damages include losses to public infrastructure, fire response costs, losses to revenues, increased costs, environmental damages, and losses of historical or cultural landmarks.’
The fires in Lahaina and Kula burned over 3,000 acres of land, destroyed more than 2,220 buildings and caused an estimated $5.5billion worth of damage. Maui is seeking unspecified civil damages.
Several reports have surfaced detailing allegations that the company’s failure to maintain its grid properly resulted in the disaster.
Videos have also surfaced on Facebook that purport to show powerlines entangled with overgrown trees and vegetation.
Investigators have not determined the exact cause of the fires.
Hawaiian Electric CEO Shelee Kimura said during an August 14 press conference the company does not have an automatic shut-off plan that other utilities use to limit fire.
The fires burned over 3,000 acres of land, destroyed more than 2,220 buildings and caused an estimated $5.5billion worth of damage. Maui is seeking unspecified civil damages
Maui County says Hawaiian Electric’s failure to maintain the system and the grid caused systemic failures and started three fires on the island
This image, captured at the Maui Bird Conservation Center near Makawao, appears to show a bright flash in the woods that many believe was caused by a tree falling on a powerline
She said doing so could harm the elderly, hospital patients and hinder water pumps, which are essential for firefighting.
A representative for the company said an investigation is underway to determine what happened.
The company’s stock price took a dive and was given a junk rating by S&P after lawsuits on behalf of the victims alleged it was responsible for the deadly wildfires on Maui.
Lahaina residents in one of the lawsuits claimed Hawaiian Electric is responsible for the fires after failing to shut off power lines despite warnings from the National Weather Service that high winds could blow those lines down and spark fast-spreading wildfires.
‘By failing to shut off the power during these dangerous fire conditions, defendants caused loss of life, serious injuries, destruction of hundreds of homes and businesses, displacement of thousands of people, and damage to many of Hawaii’s historic and cultural sites,’ the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit, which raises gross negligence and private nuisance claims, among others.
Hawaiian Electric has agreed to investigate their role and said they would cooperate with a separate probe into the fire launched by Hawaii’s attorney general last week.
‘We all believe it’s important to understand what happened. And I think we all believe it’s important to make sure it doesn’t happen again,’ chief executive Kimura said.
Hawaiian Electric provides power for 95 percent of Hawaii residents, according to the company’s website.
The lawsuit claims that power lines were still energized when they were downed by strong winds and ignited the dry grass and brush which caused the deadly fires
Investigators have not worked out the cause of the fires yet
It vowed to conduct drone surveys to identify areas vulnerable to wildfires and determine how to help keep residents and infrastructure safe.
But four years later, very little had followed and only $245,000, between 2019 and 2022, had been invested on wildfire-specific projects on the island, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Hawaiian Electric instead focused on a push to convert to renewables after a 2008 spike in oil prices as it relies on petroleum imports for 80 percent of its energy supply.
In 2015, lawmakers passed legislation mandating that the state derive 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2045, the first such requirement in the U.S.
Hawaiian Electric revealed in 2017 that it would reach the goal five years ahead of schedule but that focus may have come at the cost of fire mitigation according to some experts.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk