{"id":588943,"date":"2023-08-28T22:46:15","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T19:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/electric-utility-acknowledges-downed-power-lines-started-first-maui-fire\/"},"modified":"2023-08-28T22:46:15","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T19:46:15","slug":"electric-utility-acknowledges-downed-power-lines-started-first-maui-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/electric-utility-acknowledges-downed-power-lines-started-first-maui-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"#Electric utility acknowledges downed power lines started first Maui fire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/potw_081823_1400.787_02.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Hawaii\u2019s electric utility company acknowledged its downed power lines started the first wildfire on Maui, but faulted Maui county firefighters who declared the fire contained and left the scene before a second fire broke out in the area for some of the blame. <\/p>\n<p>The company is facing a lawsuit from the county, which blames it for the deadliest wildfire in more than a century in the U.S. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>The lawsuit threatens to cripple the electric utility, which in a Sunday\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaiianelectric.com\/hawaiian-electric-provides-update-on-lahaina-fires-response\">statement<\/a>\u00a0pointed the finger at the county fire department for bearing some responsibility. <\/p>\n<p>The Hawaiian Electric Company said the first fire on the morning of Aug. 8 \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ears to have been caused by power lines that fell in high winds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The company, however, argued that the Maui County Fire Department reported it was \u201c100 percent contained\u201d and left the scene and later declared it extinguished only to have a second fire flare up in the same area.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were surprised and disappointed that the County of Maui rushed to court before completing its own investigation,\u201d Shelee Kimura, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Calling the complaint \u201cfactually and legally irresponsible,\u201d Kimura said the lawsuit may leave the utility company \u201cno choice in the legal system but to show its responsibility [the county] for what happened that day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hawaiian Electric claimed it later came to scene of the first fire to make repairs and ensured the power lines were deenergized and the power in the area remained off. It said crews saw no fire, smoke or embers when making those repairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Hawaiian Electric said a cause of that second fire has not been determined, while its records show its power lines to Lahaina were not energized during the second fire.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was no electricity flowing through the wires in the area or anywhere else on the West Maui coast,\u201d the company\u2019s statement said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The company said firefighters were unable to contain the second fire, prompting it to spread out of control toward Lahaina.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>Maui County\u2019s lawsuit\u00a0said the Hawaiian Electric Company should have known how \u201cto 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The suit claims the company\u2019s failure to maintain equipment or turn off power during Hurricane Dora\u2019s high winds, combined with drought conditions on the island, made fires from downed lines more likely.<\/p>\n<p>Richard Fired, a Honolulu attorney serving as co-counsel on Maui County\u2019s lawsuit, told the Associated Press\u00a0if the electric company\u2019s the power lines hadn\u2019t caused the initial fire, \u201cthis all would be moot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest problem,\u201d Fried told the Associated Press on Monday. \u201cThey can dance around this all they want. But there\u2019s no explanation for that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Scott Seu, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric,\u00a0said the lawsuit \u201cdistracts from the important work that needs to be done for the people of Lahaina and Maui.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The wildfires ripped through the island earlier this month, leaving 115 people dead and thousands of structures damaged or destroyed, notably those in the historic Lahaina Town, which took the brunt of destruction.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\"><\/aside>\n<p>While firefighters are still working to completely extinguish the fires,\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mauicounty.gov\/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=12778\">Maui County officials<\/a>\u00a0assured residents there are no active threats in the three ongoing fires in Olinda, Kula and Lahaina.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2023 Nexstar <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Media<\/a> Inc. 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Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/energy-environment\/4175262-electric-utility-acknowledges-downed-power-lines-started-first-maui-fire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hawaii\u2019s electric utility company acknowledged its downed power lines started the first wildfire on Maui, but faulted Maui county firefighters who declared the fire contained and left the scene before a second fire broke out in the area for some of the blame. The company is facing a lawsuit from the county, which blames it&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":588944,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/08\/potw_081823_1400.787_02.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[134344,117,134418,134353,134661,134420,145059,145365,145366,23261,145367,145000,134345],"class_list":["post-588943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-administration","tag-business","tag-congress-blog","tag-court-battles","tag-energy-environment","tag-equilibrium-sustainability","tag-hawaii-wildfires","tag-lahaina","tag-lahaina-fire","tag-lgbtq","tag-maui-county-wildfires","tag-maui-wildfires","tag-state-watch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}