In Hawaii, where the city of Lahaina in particular, on the island of Maui, was devastated by fires, it is time to look for responsibilities. Maui County filed a lawsuit Thursday, August 24, against local power company Hawaiian Electric, accusing it of negligence in the deadly fires that broke out on August 8. At least 115 people died, and between 1,000 and 1,100 people are still missing.
The county said the fires were started by a damaged power line and argues the utility company failed to shut off power despite unusually strong winds and drought conditions. The investigation opened by the justice has not yet made any conclusions, but many wonder about the responsibility of Hawaiian Electric in these fires.
The company has “acted negligently by not turning off its electrical equipment”despite a warning from the US weather services, said Maui County in a press release.
According to the county, the company had a duty “to properly maintain and repair power transmission lines and other equipment, including utility poles associated with the transmission of electricity, and to keep vegetation properly trimmed and manicured to avoid contact with overhead power lines and other electrical equipment”.
The electric company knew that the high winds “would topple utility poles, bring down power lines and set fire to vegetation”, is it written. Electrical services “also knew that if their overhead electrical equipment started a fire, it would spread at an extremely fast rate”further denounces the complaint.
Thirty electric poles knocked down
Due to the drought in the area, plants, including some invasive grasses, have become dangerously dry. Before the flames reduced the town of Lahaina to ashes, Hawaii was on red fire alert because of strong winds fed by Hurricane Dora, which was breaking in the Pacific a few hundred miles from the archipelago.
At least thirty utility poles have been knocked down in West Maui. A video shot by a Lahaina resident shows a downed power line setting fire to dry grass. Firefighters first brought the blaze under control and then left to respond to further calls. Residents said the fire then reignited and progressed toward downtown Lahaina.
Pinned down by the flames and unable to escape by road, a number of residents jumped into the ocean to try to escape the flaming debris and black smoke that enveloped the city center. This week, dozens of divers scoured a stretch of water more than 6 kilometers in search of traces of people who may have perished. Teams are also working to find remains among the ashes of destroyed buildings.
Charge of fraud
Hawaiian Electric serves 95% of Hawaii’s electricity consumers. The company is also the subject of several lawsuits from Lahaina residents and some of its own shareholders, who accused it of fraud in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, claiming it had no not disclosed that its forest fire prevention and safety measures were inadequate.
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On August 14, Hawaiian Electric boss Shelee Kimura defended her company’s decision not to turn off the power. “In Lahaina, electricity powers the pumps that supply water”had retorted the leader, specifying that possible power cuts could also be dangerous for the elderly or sick.
The county notes that other power companies — such as Southern California Edison Company or San Diego Gas & Electric — have all implemented power outages for public safety reasons during high winds, and says the “serious and catastrophic losses (…) could have been easily avoided” if Hawaiian Electric had decided on a similar shutdown plan.
The county said it was seeking compensation for damage to public property and resources in Lahaina as well as nearby Kula.
Other power companies have recently been found responsible for devastating fires. In June, an Oregon jury found power company PacifiCorp liable for causing devastating fires over Labor Day weekend in 2020, ordering the company to pay tens of millions of dollars to seventeen owners who had sued her and found her liable for broader damages that could bring the total amount of compensation to several billion dollars.
Electric company PG&E has declared bankruptcy and pleaded guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter after its neglected equipment sparked a fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills in 2018 that destroyed nearly 19,000 homes, businesses and other buildings and virtually leveled the town of Paradise, California.