2023-08-25 03:29:59
The company is the subject of many suspicions and has already been the subject of a complaint from residents. Videos shot by some locals show a power line damaged by the wind on the day of the disaster, quickly surrounded by flames.
The investigation opened by the justice has not yet returned conclusions, but many wonder regarding the responsibility of Hawaiian Electric in these fires, the deadliest for a century in the United States, which made at least 115 victims. . This week, the authorities explained that they had still identified 1,100 missing persons.
The company “acted negligently by not turning off its electrical equipment,” despite a warning from the US Weather Services, Maui County said in a press release.
A lack of maintenance and anticipation deplored
Before the flames reduced the town of Lahaina to ashes, Hawaii was on red fire alert due to strong winds fed by Hurricane Dora, which was breaking in the Pacific a few hundred miles from the archipelago. According to the complaint, consulted by AFP, the county believes that “this destruction might have been avoided”.
Hawaiian Electric might have predicted that the high winds “would topple utility poles, bring down power lines and ignite vegetation,” the complaint argues.
Read more: She escaped fire in Hawaii: ‘I screamed and prayed for my life. I felt the heat in my car”
The supplier had an obligation “to properly maintain and repair electrical transmission lines and other equipment, (…) and to ensure that vegetation is properly trimmed and maintained to avoid contact with overhead power lines,” the complaint added. Hawaiian Electric “also knew that if its overhead electrical equipment started a fire, it would spread at an extremely rapid rate,” on an island suffering from drought, the complaint accuses.
On August 14, Hawaiian Electric boss Shelee Kimura defended her company’s decision not to turn off the power. “In Lahaina, the electricity supplies the pumps that supply the water,” retorted the leader, specifying that any power cuts might also be dangerous for the elderly or sick.
In video: Hawaii faces the worst fires in its history
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