Broken power lines caused deadly Maui wildfire, new report shows

A study has recovered that breached powerfulness lines caused the deadly August 2023 wildfire successful Maui.

The wildfire connected the Hawaiian Island killed 102 radical and destroyed much than 2,200 structures, causing much than $5 cardinal successful damages.

The astir 300-page study released Wednesday comes from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which worked with section officials similar the County of Maui Department of Fire and Public Safety to find the cause.

The occurrence was initially blamed connected the operation of precocious winds and adust weather. However, the probe recovered that the wide demolition was caused by a azygous occurrence that started by the "undetected re-energization of breached inferior lines, which caused sparks that ignited unmaintained vegetation," Maui Fire Chief Bradford Ventura said during a property league Wednesday.

Damaged spot lies scattered successful the aftermath of a wildfire successful Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 21, 2023.

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File

The probe recovered nary definitive decision with however the ignition started, Ventura said, but noted that the study recovered the occurrence origin to beryllium accidental.

"The root of the occurrence was the overgrown vegetation astatine and surrounding inferior rod 25 disconnected of Lahainaluna Road," according to the report. "The origin of the occurrence was the re-energization of breached inferior lines which caused the ejection of molten metallic worldly (sparks) to autumn to the basal of rod 25, igniting the unmaintained vegetation below."

The probe besides ruled retired the anticipation that determination had been 2 abstracted fires. "This, successful fact, was 1 fire," Ventura said.

The wildfire was the 5th deadliest successful U.S. past and the worst earthy catastrophe successful Hawaii's history, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. It sparked respective different investigations centered connected constabulary effect and the effect from authorities and Maui region agencies.

In the days earlier the Aug. 8 wildfire, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency issued a reddish emblem informing of "gusty winds and adust fuels" creating a hazard of "extreme fire."

Fingers were pointed betwixt the section agencies and companies connected to the fire. A study from authorities Attorney General Anne E. Lopez recovered that determination is nary grounds that Hawaiian Electric, Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, Maui Fire Department, Maui Police and others had developed plans to woody with specified a occurrence risk.

A preliminary Maui Police Department study successful February recovered that the understaffed constabulary unit grappled with communications and instrumentality issues that hadn't been anticipated. The constabulary probe didn't code the utility's imaginable culpability for the fires, the root of the blazes oregon the occurrence crews' response.

The study recovered that constabulary went without due protective cogwheel portion juggling frantic postulation evacuations and that exigency dispatch for the land was overwhelmed by a telephone measurement it was incapable to handle. It besides noted that suspended cables and downed electrical wires were strewn crossed roadways, cutting disconnected what could person been captious routes for escape.

In August, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green announced a historical $4.037 cardinal colony to resoluteness claims arising from the tragedy. The colony addresses astir 450 lawsuits filed by individuals, businesses and security companies successful some authorities and national courts against 7 defendants -- authorities of Hawaii, County of Maui, Hawaiian Electric, Kamehameha Schools, West Maui Land Co., Hawaiian Telcom and Spectrum/Charter Communications.

They accidental they "undertook important efforts to find a solution that addresses the needs and ensures the well-being of plaintiffs, each affected individuals, and their families," according to a property merchandise from Green's office.