Current:Home > StocksMaui County sues utility, alleging negligence over fires that ravaged Lahaina -BeyondWealth Learning
Maui County sues utility, alleging negligence over fires that ravaged Lahaina
View
Date:2025-04-12 16:45:43
HONOLULU (AP) — Maui County sued Hawaiian Electric Company on Thursday over the fires that devastated Lahaina, saying the utility negligently failed to shut off power despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions.
Witness accounts and video indicated that sparks from power lines ignited fires as utility poles snapped in the winds, which were driven by a passing hurricane. The Aug. 8 fire killed at least 115 people and left an unknown number of others missing.
A spokesperson for Hawaiian Electric didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Had the utility heeded weather service “warnings and de-energized their powerlines during the predicted high-wind gusts, this destruction could have been avoided,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the utility had a duty “to 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.”
The utility knew that high winds “would topple power poles, knock down power lines, and ignite vegetation,” the lawsuit said. “Defendants also knew that if their overhead electrical equipment ignited a fire, it would spread at a critically rapid rate.”
The lawsuit notes other utilities, such as Southern California Edison Company, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric, have all implemented Public Safety Power Shutoffs during during high wind events and said the “severe and catastrophic losses ... could have easily been prevented” if Hawaiian Electric had a similar shutoff plan.
The county said it is seeking compensation for damage to public property and resources in Lahaina as well as nearby Kula.
Other utilities have been found liable for devastating fires recently.
In June, a jury in Oregon found the electric utility PacifiCorp responsible for causing devastating fires during Labor Day weekend in 2020, ordering the company to pay tens of millions of dollars to 17 homeowners who sued and finding it liable for broader damages that could push the total award into the billions.
Pacific Gas & Electric declared bankruptcy and pleaded guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter after its neglected equipment caused a fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills in 2018 that destroyed nearly 19,000 homes, businesses and other buildings and virtually razed the town of Paradise, California.
veryGood! (61787)
Related
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- Carbon Credit Market Seizes On a New Opportunity: Plugging Oil and Gas Wells
- On the Eve of Plastics Treaty Talks, a Youth Advocate From Ghana Speaks Out: ‘We Need Urgent Action’
- Federal Money Begins Flowing to Lake Erie for Projects With an Eye on Future Climate Impacts
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- Emily Blunt Reveals Cillian Murphy’s Strict Oppenheimer Diet
- As New York’s Gas Infrastructure Ages, Some Residents Are Left With Leaking Pipes or No Gas at All
- Little Publicized but Treacherous, Methane From Coal Mines Upends the Lives of West Virginia Families
- South Korean president's party divided over defiant martial law speech
- Q&A: The Power of One Voice, and Now, Many: The Lawyer Who Sounded the Alarm on ‘Forever Chemicals’
Ranking
- Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback
- Extreme Heat Is Already Straining the Mexican Power Grid
- A New Hurricane Season Begins With Forecasts For Less Activity but More Uncertainty
- Arizona Announces Phoenix Area Can’t Grow Further on Groundwater
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- Q&A: Kate Beaton Describes the Toll Taken by Alberta’s Oil Sands on Wildlife and the Workers Who Mine the Viscous Crude
- A Pennsylvania Community Wins a Reprieve on Toxic Fracking Wastewater
- Carlee Russell Found: Untangling Case of Alabama Woman Who Disappeared After Spotting Child on Interstate
Recommendation
Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
A New Battery Intended to Power Passenger Airplanes and EVs, Explained
Students and Faculty at Ohio State Respond to a Bill That Would Restrict College Discussions of Climate Policies
Not Winging It: Birders Hope Hard Data Will Help Save the Species They Love—and the Ecosystems Birds Depend On
Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
As Water Levels Drop, the Risk of Arsenic Rises
Colorado Frackers Doubled Freshwater Use During Megadrought, Even as Drilling and Oil Production Fell
Federal Money Begins Flowing to Lake Erie for Projects With an Eye on Future Climate Impacts