In the first moments of the Maui fire, when high winds toppled power poles, slapping electrical wires to the dry grass below, there was a reason the flames erupted simultaneously in long, neat lines — the wires were bare, uninsulated metal that could spark on contact.
Video and images analyzed by The Associated Press confirmed the wire was among the miles of lines left by Hawaiian Electric Co. bare with weather and often heavy foliage, despite recent calls by utilities in other fire and hurricane-prone areas to shut down. line them or bury them.
Adding to the problem is that many of the 60,000 power poles, mostly wooden poles, described by its own documents as being built to “obsolete 1960s standards,” are leaning and nearing the end of their useful lives.
They are close to meeting the 2002 national standard that major components of Hawaii’s electrical grid can withstand 105 mile per hour winds.
The 2019 filing said it had fallen behind in replacing the old wooden poles because of other priorities and warned of “serious public danger” if it “failed.”
A Google street view image of the pole taken before the fire shows bare wires.
Hawaiian Electric Co. leaving wires bare, despite recent calls by utilities in wildfire and other hurricane areas to cover their lines or bury them. AP/Stephen Lam
It’s “highly unlikely” that fully insulated cables will ignite and cause fires in dry vegetation, said Michael Ahern, who retired this month as director of power systems at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.
Experts who watched videos showing downed power lines agreed the insulated wire would not bend and ignite, igniting the line of fire.
Hawaiian Electric said in a statement that it “has long recognized the unique threat” from climate change and has spent millions of dollars in response, but did not say whether the particular power lines that collapsed in the early moments of the fire were empty.
“We have implemented resilience strategies to meet these challenges, and since 2018, we have spent approximately $950 million on strengthening and hardening our grid and approximately $110 million on vegetation management efforts,” the company said. “This work includes replacing more than 12,500 poles and structures since 2018 and trimming and removing trees along approximately 2,500 line miles annually on average.”
But a former member of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission confirmed many of Maui’s wooden power poles are in poor condition. Jennifer Potter lives in Lahaina and until late last year was on the commission, which regulates Hawaiian Electric.
“Even tourists driving around the island are like, ‘What is that?’ They tilt significantly because the wind over time really pushes them,” he said. “That’s obviously not going to hold up to 60, 70 miles per hour winds. So the infrastructure is not strong enough for a wind storm like this … The infrastructure itself is just affected.”
John Morgan, a personal injury and trial attorney in Florida who lives part-time in Maui realizes the same thing. “I can see on the power pole. They are thin, stooped, bowed. Power goes out all the time.”
The wire was found to be bare metal and not insulated which could start a fire on contact.AP/Stephen Lam
Morgan’s firm sued Hawaiian Electric on behalf of one person and spoke to many more about their rights. The fire broke out within 500 yards of the house.
Sixty percent of West Maui’s utility poles were still down as of Aug. 14, according to Hawaiian Electric CEO Shelee Kimura at a news conference — 450 of 750 poles.
Hawaiian Electric is facing several new lawsuits aimed at holding it accountable for the deadliest US wildfires in more than a century.
The confirmed death toll is 115, and the county expects to rise.
Attorneys plan to examine some electrical equipment from the neighborhood where the fire is believed to have started as soon as next week, according to a court order, but they will do so in a warehouse.
Utilities lowered burning poles and removed downed wires from the site.
This is an “avoidable tragedy of epic proportions,” said attorney Paul Starita, lead counsel on three of the lawsuits.
“It all comes back to money,” says Starita, of the California firm Singleton Schreiber. “They might say, oh, well, it’s taking a long time to get through the authorization process or whatever. OK, start early. I mean, people’s lives are on the line. You’re responsible. Spend the money, do your job.”
Hawaiian Electric also faced criticism for not turning off power amid high wind warnings and keeping it on even as dozens of poles began to fall. Maui County sued Hawaiian Electric on Thursday over the issue.
Hawaiian Electric faces several new lawsuits aimed at holding it accountable for the deadliest US wildfires in more than a century.AP/ae C. Hong
Michael Jacobs, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said of the power lines causing so many fires in the United States: “We definitely have a new pattern, we don’t have a new safety regime to go with it. .”
Insulating electrical wires prevents arcing and sparks, and dissipates heat.
Other utilities have addressed the bare wire issue. Pacific Gas & Electric was found responsible for the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California that killed 85 people.
The disaster was caused by a broken power line.
Its program to eliminate uninsulated wires in fire zones has covered more than 1,200 miles of line to date.
PG&E also announced in 2021 it will bury 10,000 miles of power lines. It buried 180 miles in 2022 and is on pace to do 350 miles this year.
Another major California utility, Southern California Edison, expects to have replaced more than 7,200 miles, or about 75% of its overhead distribution lines, with covered wire in high-fire-risk areas by the end of 2025.
It is also burying lines in areas of severe risk.
Hawaiian Electric said in a filing last year that it was looking at the utility’s large fire plans in California.
Some don’t blame Hawaiian Electric for its comparative lack of action because it hasn’t faced the threat of wildfires for so long. And the utility is by no means alone in continuing to use bare metal conductors high up on power poles.
The same goes for public safety power outages.
It’s only been a few years that utilities have been willing to shut off people’s power in advance to prevent fires and the disturbing practice has not yet become widespread.
But Mark Toney calls wildfires caused by utilities completely preventable.
He is executive director of ratepayer group The Utility Reform Network in California.
It prompted PG&E to protect its lines in high-risk areas.
“We need to stop forest fires caused by utilities. We need to stop it and the fastest, cheapest way to do it is to insulate the overhead line,” he said.
Utilities lower burning poles and remove downed wires from the site.AP/Rick Bowmer
As for the poles, in Hawaiian Electric’s 2019 regulatory filing, the company said its 60,000 poles, almost all wood, are vulnerable because they are old and Hawaii is in a “severe wood decay danger zone.” The company said it had fallen behind in replacing the wooden poles because of other priorities and warned of “serious public danger” if the poles “fail.”
The document said many of the company’s poles are built to withstand 56 mph (90 kph), when a Category 1 hurricane has winds of at least 74 mph.
In 2002, the National Electrical Safety Code was updated to require utility poles like the one on Maui to withstand winds of 105 miles per hour.
The US electricity grid was designed and built for the climate of the last century, said Joshua Rhodes, an energy systems research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin.
Utilities would be wise to better prepare for prolonged droughts and high winds, he added.
“Everyone thinks of Hawaii as a tropical paradise, but it’s getting dry and burning,” he said Thursday. “It might seem expensive if you’re doing the work to prevent wildfires or the effects of wildfires, but it’s a lot cheaper than actually starting one and burning down so many people’s houses and causing so many people to die.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
