(Bloomberg) — The fire that razed the historic Maui town of Lahaina last year was caused when Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. re-energized broken utility lines that caused sparks to ignite unmaintained dry vegetation, the Maui Fire Department said.
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The blaze was a single fire that was thought to be contained by firefighters but rekindled later in the day from a piece of unidentified smoldering material located in a gully on the outskirts of Lahaina, the department’s chief said at a news conference Wednesday.
The county released the details of an official investigation into the origin and cause of the blaze, which resulted in an estimated $5.5 billion in economic damage and 102 deaths. The Maui Fire Department had tapped the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to determine exactly how the blaze ignited and spread as part of its investigation into the disaster.
An earlier, separate report released by the Hawaii Attorney General found there were multiple factors that contributed to the devastation. It said high winds on August 8, 2023 knocked down a Hawaiian Electric power line that started a small vegetation fire near Lahaina. Firefighters thought they had extinguished that blaze, but extreme conditions and difficult terrain likely led to it flaring up again in the afternoon and burning down the town, the report said.
Shortly before the one-year anniversary of the disaster, Hawaii Governor Josh Green announced a $4 billion settlement in which the state, the county of Maui, Hawaiian Electric and others agreed to pay claims arising from the fires. That agreement has been tied up in a court challenge by insurance companies.
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