Maui County has sued the electric company Hawaiian Electric over the fires that devastated Lahaina.
On Thursday, Maui County said the utility negligently failed to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions.
Witness accounts and videos have indicated that sparks from power lines ignited fires as utility poles snapped in the winds, which were driven by a passing hurricane.
The deadly fires on August 8 have killed at least 115 people and left an unknown number of people missing, making them the deadliest in the US in more than a century.
Hawaii Electric said in a statement it is “very disappointed that Maui County chose this litigious path while the investigation is still unfolding.”
The lawsuit said the destruction could have been avoided and that the utility had a duty “to properly maintain and repair the electric transmission lines, and other equipment including utility poles associated with their transmission of electricity, and to keep vegetation properly trimmed and maintained so as to prevent contact with overhead power lines and other electric equipment.”
Key evidence of fire
Resident Shane Treu live streamed the beginning of the wildfire as it tore through his community on August 8.
The Facebook footage is now being used as key evidence to determine whether or not fallen utility lines were the cause of the deadly wildfire.
The utility knew the high winds “would topple power poles, knock down power lines, and ignite vegetation,” the lawsuit said.
“Defendants also knew that if their overhead electrical equipment ignited a fire, it would spread at a critically rapid rate.”
A drought in the region had left plants, including invasive grasses, dangerously dry.
As Hurricane Dora passed roughly 800 kilometres south of Hawaii, strong winds toppled at least 30 power poles in West Maui.
Residents struggled to get help
Firefighters initially contained that fire, but then left to attend to other calls, and residents said the fire later reignited and raced toward downtown Lahaina.
Mr Treu also uploaded another video to Facebook of him holding a hose in one hand and his phone in the other.
In the video he can be heard warning officers about the live powerlines which are laying on the road.
Last week the head of Maui Emergency Management Agency resigned, after he earlier said he had no regret about not using sires to warn residents about the wildfires, which ripped through the community of Lahaina.
With downed power lines, police or utility crews blocking some roads, traffic ground to a standstill along Lahaina’s Front Street.
A number of residents jumped into the water as they tried to escape the flaming debris and black smoke enveloping downtown.
Dozens of searchers in snorkel gear have been combing a 6.4km stretch of water for signs of anyone who might have perished, this week.
Crews have also been painstakingly searching for remains among the ashes of destroyed businesses and multistorey residential buildings.
Thousands of people unaccounted-for
At the moment, 115 people have been confirmed dead. A number that the county said is expected to rise.
The FBI and Maui County police are still trying to figure out how many others might be unaccounted-for.
On Tuesday, the FBI said there were 1,000 to 1,100 names on a tentative, unconfirmed list.
“Our primary focus in the wake of this unimaginable tragedy has been to do everything we can to support not just the people of Maui, but also Maui County,” Hawaiian Electric said in a statement.
What is Hawaiian Electric?
Hawaiian Electric is a for-profit, investor-owned, publicly traded utility that serves 95 per cent of Hawaii’s electric customers.
As well as the lawsuit from Maui County, the utility is also facing several other lawsuits from Lahaina residents as well as one from some of its own investors, who accused it of fraud in a federal lawsuit on Thursday.
It said the utility failed to disclose that its wildfire prevention and safety measures were inadequate.
Maui County’s lawsuit noted other utilities, such as Southern California Edison Company, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric, have procedures for shutting off power during during bad windstorms and said the “severe and catastrophic losses could have easily been prevented” if Hawaiian Electric had a similar shut off plan.
The county said it is seeking compensation for damage to public property and resources in Lahaina as well as nearby Kula.
Shares of Hawaii’s largest utility were more than 40 per cent down for the week. The company has lost more than half of its market value since the wildfires on August 8.
Utilities liable for multiple fire damages
In June, a jury in Oregon found the electric utility PacifiCorp responsible for causing devastating fires during Labor Day weekend in 2020, ordering the company to pay tens of millions of dollars to 17 home owners who sued the utility.
It also found it was liable for broader damages that could push the total award into the billions.
The utility Pacific Gas & Electric declared bankruptcy and pleaded guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter after its neglected equipment caused a fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills in 2018, that destroyed nearly 19,000 homes, businesses and other buildings and virtually destroyed the town of Paradise, California.
ABC/Wires