2023-08-16 15:39:00
MAUI.- Awakened by the noises of the wind that whipped his Maui neighborhood, Shane Treu stepped outside at dawn and watched as a wooden power pole snapped suddenly with a flash, its sparkling wire falling to the dry grass below and quickly igniting a line of flames.
Called 911, then turned on Facebook Video to livestream his attempt to fight the flames in Lahainawhich included drenching his yard with a garden hose.
“I heard ‘buzz, buzz,’” the 49-year-old worker told The Associated Press. “It was almost like someone had set off fireworks.. She went up the hill where there was more dry grass and, with the strong wind, the fire burned”.
The video by Treu and others captured the first moments of what would become the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than a century. Now, the images have become key evidence pointing to the possible cause of the downed power lines. Hawaiian Electric Co. is facing criticism for not shutting off power amid high wind warnings and keeping it on even as dozens of poles began toppling.
Burnt-out vehicles are seen next to a home destroyed by wildfires Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in Kula, Hawaii. On the same day that one fire devastated the town of Lahaina, another hit the town of Kula. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)Rick Bowmer – AP
A class action lawsuit has already been filed to hold the company liable for the death of more than 100 people. The lawsuit cites company documents that show it was aware that preemptive power shutoffs, such as those used in California, were an effective strategy to prevent wildfires, but never adopted them.
“Nobody likes to cut off the power – it’s inconvenient – but any company that has a significant risk of forest fire, especially if it is caused by the wind, must do it and have a plan,” he said. Michael Waraan expert on wildfires and director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University. “In this case, the utility company did not do it”.
“It may turn out that there are other causes of this fire, and the utility lines are not the main cause,” Wara said. “But if they are, this didn’t have to happen.”
Hawaiian Electric declined to comment on the lawsuit’s allegations or whether it had ever shut off power due to high winds. But the president and CEO Shelee Kimura He pointed out at a press conference the day before yesterday that many factors enter into that decision, including the possible effect on people who rely on specialized medical equipment and firefighters who need power to pump water.
“Even where it has been used, it is controversial and not universally accepted,” he said.
Charred remains from a wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)Rick Bowmer – AP
Maui Police Chief, John Pelletier, also expressed his frustration at the press conference that people were complaining both that the power had not been cut off sooner and that there were too many people missing due to the lack of mobile phone service and the Internet. “Do you want notifications or do you want the power to go out?“, said. “They don’t give you both”.
Mikal Wattsone of the lawyers behind the lawsuit, told the AP news agency that he was in Maui, interviewing witnesses and “collecting video filmed contemporaneously.”
“There is credible evidence, captured on video, that at least one of the power line ignition sources occurred when trees fell onto a Hawaiian Electric power line.said Watts, who confirmed that he was referring to the Treu recordings.
August 10, 2023, USA, Maui: An aerial photo shows destroyed buildings and burned trees caused by wildfires. Photo: County of Maui/ZUMA Press Wire/dpaCounty Of Maui – ZUMA Press Wire
Treu recorded three videos on Facebook on August 8 starting at 6:40 a.m., three minutes following authorities said they first received notice of the fire. With a hose in one hand and the phone in the other, he broadcast live the arrival of the first police patrol cars and can be heard warning officers of the presence of high voltage cables on the road.
At one point, zoom in on the camera to a wire dangling from a charred patch of grass, surrounded by orange flames.
Robert Archon, a neighbor of Treu, also recorded videos that he provided to the AP. The recording of Arconado, which begins at 6:48 in the morning, shows a lone firefighter heading towards the flames as they continued to spread west down the hill and downwind along Lahainaluna Road, toward the center of town.
At 9 a.m., Maui authorities declared the fire “100% contained” and firefighters left. But around 2:00 p.m., Arconado said that the same area had revived.
In a video he recorded at 3:06 p.m., smoke and embers are seen being blown toward the city as howling winds continue to whip the island. Arconado continued filming for hours as huge columns of flames and smoke billowed from neighborhoods down the hill, forcing people to jump into the sea to escape.
“It was scary, very scary”, says Arconado. “There was nowhere to go. (…) I witnessed everything. I never sleep.”
The houses of Treu and Arconado were spared, but satellite images reviewed by AP show that from regarding 500 meters downwind, entire neighborhoodswere reduced to ashes. Although experts say early indications suggest that multiple fires may have started in and around Lahaina on August 8, there were no lightning strikes or other apparently natural causes.
Robert MarshallCEO of Whisker Labs, a company that collects and analyzes power grid data, said that sensors installed throughout Maui to detect sparks on power lines showed a dangerously high number of live-wire incidents that night and the next morning. The sensors, 70 in all, record interruptions in power transmission following trees fell on power lines or other accidents, and showed dozens of these failures in areas where the fires likely broke out and around the time the fires were likely to occur. the flames started.
The falls, which Marshall compared to a series of circuit breakers tripping at the same time, were notable for the amount of power lost, a third of the usual 120 volts running through the lines. Marshall said he mightn’t say if any of the sparks started a fire, only noting there were plenty of opportunities for it to happen.
“A considerable amount of energy was discharged,” Marshall said, pointing to a graph on his computer screen with several lines falling at the same time. “Any of these failures might have caused a forest fire, any might have been an ignition source.”.
After the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California killed 85 people in a disaster caused by downed power lines, Pacific Gas & Electric agreed to pay more than $13.5 billion to the victims of the fire. State regulators have adopted new procedures that require utility companies to shut off power when forecasters predict high winds and dry conditions that might lead to fire spread.
FILE – A home burns as the Camp Fire rages through Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 8, 2018. The Camp Fire bears many similarities to the deadly wildfire in Hawaii. Both fires moved so quickly residents had little time to escape. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)Noah Berger – FR34727 AP
In Maui, the National Weather Service began alerting the public to dangerous fire conditions on August 3. Forecasters issued a “red flag warning” on August 7, warning that the combination of high winds from a Category 4 offshore hurricane and drought conditions brought regarding by climate change would create ideal conditions for fire.
Despite Hawaiian Electric officials specifically citing the Camp Fire and California blackout plan as examples in planning documents and funding requests to state regulators, on the day of the Maui fire there was no procedure in place for shutting down the island’s network.
Wara said the video posted by Treu also raised questions regarding Hawaiian Electric’s claim that it had disabled an automatic recharging mechanism that restores power following a fault, because it appeared that the downed wire Treu recorded was still alive.
Hawaii Attorney General, Anne Lopezannounced last week that it had opened “a comprehensive review of critical decision-making and policies in place before, during, and following wildfires.”
Hawaiian Electric’s Kimura said the company had launched its own investigation. Its shares have plummeted 60% in the last week for fear that the company will have to pay large compensation.
The Hawaiian Electric logo is displayed outside the power company office following the Maui wildfires, in Kahului, Hawaii on August 15, 2023. A class action lawsuit has been filed once morest Hawaiian Electric, the largest power company from the state, alleging that the company should have cut its power lines to reduce the risk of fire. (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon / AFP) PATRICK T. FALLON – AFP
Watts, one of the lawyers suing the company, said the fire that destroyed Lahaina it was foreseeable, given the weather and fuel conditions. He said Hawaiian Electric documents show the company knew its network on Maui was degraded following decades of neglect. The old power poles were supposed to be replaced between 2019 and this year, but he alleges the company delayed the work.
“This is why the city of Lahaina is decimated, thousands of people are now homeless, and hundreds will mourn the loss of their innocent loved ones,” he said. “This is an unprecedented tragedy that was a totally preventable tragedy.”
Jennifer Potter, who lives in Lahaina and was a member of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission until last year, said that A comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan should have been in place years ago. “More might have been done. We now have 20/20″ hindsight,” she stated. “This doesn’t have to keep happening”.
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