The death toll from the fire on the Hawaiian island of Maui, the worst tragedy of its kind in the United States in more than a century, already stands at 96 and, without much ground to review, the 100 mark seemed imminent this Monday.
Now, when the neighbors can return to their houses or, rather, to what is left of them if there is anything left, the question that arises is how this great tragedy originated. It is not yet known what caused the fire.
Experts believe the deadly fires, which have ripped through historic Lahaina, where more than 2,700 structures have been destroyed, were fueled by a mix of ground and atmospheric conditions.
Most of Hawaii was under the red flag warning of fire risk. However, once they were declared, everything indicates that errors were made in the communication of the alarm and in the measures adopted.
In this sense, Hawaiian Electric Industries, the company that provides the service in Maui, suffered a stock market collapse on Monday due to the suspicion that this company could have played a key role in the severity of the incident, whose flames were driven by the force of a hurricane.
Three criminal complaints have been filed against that company, considering that it was one of the decisive elements in reinforcing the virulence of the fire and its spread. These lawsuits allege that the utility could have mitigated or prevented much of the destruction if it had shut down and removed power from its lines.
“They chose not to shut off power despite high winds and advisories about conditions on Maui and Lahaina specifically,” the complaints state. “These power lines predictably spread Lahaina's rapid, deadly, and destructive fire, which has leveled homes, businesses, churches, schools, and cultural heritage sites,” she says.
Apart from this dispute, and according to experts, strong winds, low humidity and drought played a decisive role in the virulence. "The wind caused the fire to get out of control," said the authorities, on whom suspicions also fall because none of the 80 alarms available to Maui were activated, so the fire caught the neighbors by surprise.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green echoed the experts' considerations. “This catastrophe is the product, in my estimate, of global warming combined with the drought and with a super storm, where we had a hurricane offshore that generated very strong winds,” he said.
But then criticism also arose of the electricity company that operates 95% of the network on the island, for its lack of precaution and the lack of application of the emergency plan to reduce the risk of forest fires before the arrival of Hurricane Dora.
A spokesman denied that they had not done anything to mitigate the risk and recalled that, until now, the cause of the fire has not yet been determined. “Hawaiian Electric has a significant fire mitigation and grid resiliency program that includes vegetation care, investment in hardening the power lines, and regular inspections of our assets,” he said in a statement.
“The company has protocols that are applied when strong winds are expected, among which are enabling the automatic closing of circuits that can be opened in a meteorological event,” he insisted.
