Even before the inferno engulfing the Maui resort of Lahaina was fully contained, local officials and Hawaii’s leading facilities were at loggerheads over a fundamental question: Was there one fire in the hills overlooking the city on the fateful day, or were there two? ?
The answer may be crucial to determining the cause and responsibility for the disaster.
Hawaiian Electric admitted for the first time late Sunday that its power lines, lashed by unusually high winds, were downed and started a fire early on the morning of Aug. 8.
But the company said that by 6:40 a.m. — minutes after the first reports of the fire — the storm had caused its lines in the area to automatically shut down. She noted that the fire was later reported to be “100 percent contained” by the Maui County Fire and Public Safety Department, which left the scene and later announced that the fire was “extinguished.”
Hawaiian Electric said its lines were not carrying any current by the time the fire broke out in the mid-afternoon and quickly devoured much of downtown Lahaina and killed at least 115 people. The authority said the cause of the fire “has not yet been determined.”
The account — a reference to “morning fire” and “afternoon fire” — was a response to a lawsuit filed Thursday by the District of Maui, which criticized the facility for negligent failure to maintain its equipment and accused it of failing to shut off the power. electricity. The lawsuit followed several other lawsuits filed by lawyers for wildfire victims.
“We were surprised and disappointed that Maui rushed to court even before completing its own investigation,” Shelly Kimura, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric Corporation, often referred to as HECO, said in a statement in response to the Maui lawsuit. “We believe the complaint is factually and legally irresponsible.”
John Fisk, the attorney representing Maui County in the suit, said Monday that the onus remains on the company to show that its equipment was not responsible for the destruction, considering the day appears to have started with a fire caused by power lines. . The lawsuit points to one fire in Lahaina, along with two other fires on the island.
“To the extent that HECO has information on a second ignition source, HECO should provide that evidence now,” Mr. Fisk said. “It is the ultimate responsibility of HECO to deactivate, ensure that its equipment and systems are properly serviced, and ensure that downed power lines are not reactivated.”
Fire investigators with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are working to determine the cause of the fires in the town on Maui’s west side. The agency, which includes members of the National Response Team from Honolulu and Seattle, declined to comment on Monday on the status of its investigations.
Maui County reports that the Lahaina Fire is 90 percent contained and has burned 2,170 acres. The county also reported that two other fires were almost completely contained: the Olinda Fire, which burned 1,081 acres and was 85 percent contained, and the Cola Fire, which burned 202 acres and was 90 percent contained.
Hawaiian Electric quickly became the focus of wildfires in Maui, with evidence pointing to its equipment as the cause, angering some who criticized the company for the poor condition of many of its power poles and for failing to use this type of power cut program. Approved by utilities in the state of California for fire protection.
Until its statement late Sunday, Hawaiian Electric had left a lot unsaid. The company has spoken highly of efforts to restore power in Maui County, where it provides electricity to about 74,000 of its roughly 500,000 customers across five of the state’s islands.
The Lahaina fire started around 6:37 a.m. on Aug. 8, near Lahainaluna Road on the hill above downtown, according to the county lawsuit. It was fueled by strong winds that blew violently from the top of Haleakala, a heavily forested mountainous region known as the Upcountry.
“We almost had a wind tunnel,” said Rudy Tamayo, vice president of power delivery for Hawaiian Electric, in an interview last week before this reporter rode in with utility crews working to restore power in the area.
Cheryl Nakaniloa, 55, lives near the first ignition point off Lahinaluna Road. She said she gets up every morning around 3:30, and remembers the winds being unusual, even for gusty Maui. Debris flew into her yard, including street signs and parts of trees, forcing her to spend five days clearing everything.
“I’ve felt winds of 45 miles an hour before, and it wasn’t like that at all,” said Ms. Nakaniloa. “It had to be about 60 to 80 miles an hour. He was just pushing me backwards.”
She said that the electricity went off, then came back on, and then went off again about 10 minutes later. It was at six in the morning, when I also noticed smoke a block away and then flames. That’s when she and her neighbors fled on the hill, their cars being rocked by heavy winds.
The Hawaiian Electric Company said those winds brought down power poles and lines in Lahaina, causing the early morning fire. At about 6:40 a.m., the utility said, the power went out.
“The storm caused a power outage, which means it automatically goes out,” said Jim Kelly, a spokesman for the company. “The Hawaii Electric Company did not manually turn it off.”
The potential threat of wind to equipment was a concern for Hawaiian Electric, which noted in its Integrated Grid Planning Report in May that it was evaluating wind speed design policies. The company said it designed structures to withstand wind loads in compliance with standards set forth in the National Electrical Safety Act of 2002.
Jennifer Potter, a former commissioner with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission who left the agency in November, said modernizing the electrical grid across the state should have been a long time ago.
“This tragedy should serve as a wake-up call to the rest of the facilities across the country,” Ms Potter said.
The west side of Maui is powered by three high-voltage transmission lines, a combination of metal and wood poles that feed two substations and poles and wires that connect to homes and businesses.
Kelly said Hawaiian Electric plans to implement a number of improvements, such as replacing copper wire with less brittle aluminum, making poles more fire-resistant, installing sensors and cameras to detect equipment problems, and adding more automatic shutdown mechanisms. .
In the meantime, workers have brought a mobile substation into town to replace one in downtown Lahaina that was destroyed by fire. The crews worked 12 to 16 hours a day, also erecting poles and laying new wires to restore electricity to those who remained in and near Lahaina.
The mobile unit can’t serve an entire city, but it supports a line that workers have restored to provide vital service along the Honwapi-Ilani Highway to those still in Lahaina and in nearby communities like Oluwa.
It may be a while before the Lahaina substation gets full repairs, as small plumes of smoke continue to be released from the burning area next to it, with some embers still smoldering.