The Hawaiian electric company whose equipment is believed to have sparked the deadly Maui wildfires is moving damaged infrastructure away from where the fires may have started – a move that could jeopardize the federal investigation into the disaster.
Records obtained by the Washington Post show that the utility company hauled downed poles, power lines, transformers, conductors and other equipment from the area around the Lahaina substation starting Aug. 12 — days before Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents arrived at the sighting. .
In doing so, the power company may have violated state guidelines on how utilities should handle and preserve evidence after wildfires and undermined the investigation into the cause of the inferno that killed at least 115 people.
“If a lot of the equipment is already moved or gone by the time the investigators show up, that’s problematic because you want to observe where the equipment is relative to the ignition site,” Michael Wara, who directs the Climate and Energy Policy program at Stanford University, told the Post.
But in a statement, Hawaiian Electric spokesman Darren Pai said the company has been “in regular communication with the ATF and local authorities and operating with them as well as attorneys representing people affected by the wildfires, with inventory and access to removed equipment, which we have photograph, document and store carefully.”
The Post has also contacted the utility and the law firm representing it, California-based Munger, Tolles and Olsen.
Hawaiian Electric is facing scrutiny for removing a fallen pole from where a deadly fire in Lahaina started. AFP via Getty Images
The fire destroyed the historic coastal town of Lahaina, and killed 115 people. James Keivom
Hawaiian Electric said it had thoroughly documented the evidence before releasing it.AFP via Getty Images
Local residents told the Post how the fire started in the early morning hours of Aug. 8 when a transformer blew and ignited dry grass on Maui County-owned land, just about a mile from Lahaina’s historic beach area.
Hawaiian Electric apparently failed to turn off the power before strong winds hit the area, and within an hour the fire was racing down the hillside toward the ocean, destroying nearly everything in its path.
The utility now faces at least eight lawsuits from local residents desperately trying to rebuild, claiming the company failed to preserve the necessary evidence.
In one of those suits, a law firm representing more than two dozen Lahaina families asked Hawaiian Electric to withhold evidence twice starting Aug. 10, according to correspondence obtained by the Post.
The next day, the Washington Post reported, one of the utility’s lawyers responded that Hawaiian Electric’s primary focus was the safety of first responders who were still fighting fires, evacuating residents and restoring power.
The fire started in the early morning hours of August 8, possibly after a transformer blew and ignited dry grass on county-owned land. County of Maui /AFP via Getty Images
Fires were seen rushing toward residents in downtown Lahaina as smoke filled the air. AP
An aerial view shows smoke rising over Maui.Carter Barto/AFP via Getty Images
The company reportedly said it was “taking steps to preserve its own property,” but because so many local, state and federal agencies are still on the ground trying to put out the fire and clean up the debris, “so it’s possible, even possible, that it was the actions of this third party, which actions not controlled by Hawaiian Electric, may result in loss of property or other items related to the cause of the fire.”
“Hawaiian Electric will take reasonable steps to preserve evidence, but cannot make any guarantees due to rapidly evolving conditions on the ground, which are also beyond our control,” the letter read, according to the Washington Post.
In response, attorneys for the residents filed a temporary restraining order to stop Hawaiian Electric from altering much of the scene where the fire started.
By Aug. 18, a judge signed a temporary discovery order detailing how the utility was supposed to handle evidence around the “suspected area of origin.”
The fire destroyed almost everything in its path, and more than 1,100 people are still missing. James Keivom
The forest fire caused widespread disruption when power lines were cut.REUTERS
Under National Fire Protection Association guidelines, “the integrity of the fire scene should be preserved” and “evidence should not be handled or removed without documentation.”
Hawaiian Electric argued in court documents that it removed the evidence because the company does not “own or control the land or public roads beneath its facilities.”
The utility has also hired a California-based “cause and origin” expert to “preserve potential evidence related to the fire,” according to the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the fire has now reached 115 people, and the number of missing has risen to 1,100.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
