It could take months for officials to determine the cause of the fire in Maui last week. But attorneys for some of the plaintiffs and investors are already beginning to blame Hawaii Electric, the state’s largest utility.
Power lines and equipment to the facility are one potential source of the fire, which has killed more than 100 people — and the death toll is expected to rise once more than 1,000 people are discovered missing.
Lawyers have filed at least four lawsuits against the company. The lawsuits assert that the company was negligent in operating and maintaining its equipment. Among other things, the attorneys say, the facility should have cut the power to prevent its lines from starting fires during high winds and droughts, a practice used in California.
These lawsuits have sparked consternation among Wall Street traders who fear that utilities will not be able to handle liability claims that could add up to billions of dollars. Hawaii Electric’s share price has fallen about 68 percent since Aug. 7, the day before the wildfires ignited, to about $12 on Thursday.
Attention shifted to the facility soon after the fires, in part because of videos and photos posted online by people in Maui that appeared to show power lines starting fires. In addition, data from Whisker Labs, a private company that monitors the electrical grid across the country for problems that could lead to home fires, appears to identify critical power line faults in the area where the fires occurred.
Hawaiian Electric declined to comment in detail on the fires. But the company’s CEO, Shelly Kimura, said at a news conference Monday that the company does not have software that can preemptively cut power to prevent wildfires. She said such a program would have required coordination with emergency workers. The power outage would have made it impossible for people to use medical equipment, water pumps, and other essential devices.
“In Lahaina, electricity powers the pumps that provide water — so that was also a huge need during that time,” Ms. Kimura said.
Hawaiian Electric isn’t the first company to find itself in the spotlight after major wildfires. Outdated utility equipment in recent years has often been blamed for starting devastating fires when it comes into contact with dry vegetation, especially when there are strong winds.
California’s largest electric utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, has been in a similar situation several times. State officials located one of its power lines to ignite the 2018 camp fire, which killed 85 people and destroyed the town of Paradise. Liability for the wildfires forced PG&E to seek bankruptcy protection; The company eventually agreed to pay $13.5 billion to settle the fire claims.
But there are some important differences between California and Hawaii. California law makes it easy to hold utilities liable for wildfires caused by their equipment even if they were not bent on negligence. In Hawaii, plaintiffs will have to prove that Hawaiian Electric was negligent in holding the utility company liable.
“Although information is limited so far, investors seem to be assuming the worst other utility companies will face from their multibillion-dollar wildfire exposure,” Bank of America analysts wrote in a note to investors Tuesday.
Hawaiian Electric was aware of the risks its equipment posed. In a filing with the state Public Utilities Commission last year, the company proposed upgrading the poles to withstand high winds and cut back on vegetation. The filing indicated that Lahaina was a priority area. The company said it would take several years to complete the work.
In addition to facility decisions, officials will also focus on the invasive weed on the slopes above Lahaina. Came to Hawaii to feed the cattle, and weeds have taken over the old sugar and pineapple plantations. Grasses tend to grow quickly when it rains but become fuel for fires in the dry season.
Hawaii’s Attorney General Ann Lopez said her office will conduct a “comprehensive review of critical decision-making and enduring policies leading to, during and after the wildfires on Maui.”
In a statement, Hawaiian Electric said it was “working with the state and county to determine what happened.”
Investigations into the source of wildfires can take from a few weeks to several months, according to Lee Frelich, director of the Forest Ecology Center at the University of Minnesota. It took California officials six months to conclude that PG&E equipment caused the camp fire.
Officials are trying to determine the start of the fire by evaluating video evidence and interviewing witnesses. Investigators then look for clues to common causes such as lightning, downed power lines, or campfires.
“It means compiling a range of different types of evidence,” said Mr Freilich.
He said such work could be difficult because many potential witnesses were left homeless or lost family members in the fire.
Susan C Beachy Contribute to research and Peter Ives Contribute to the preparation of reports.