Current:Home > reviewsMaui County sues utility, alleging negligence over fires that ravaged Lahaina-DB Wealth Institute B2 Reviews & Ratings
Maui County sues utility, alleging negligence over fires that ravaged Lahaina
lotradecoin trading View Date:2024-12-25 15:52:47
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! (85591)
Related
- Bristol Palin Shares 15-Year-Old Son Tripp Has Moved Back to Alaska
- Children's hospitals are the latest target of anti-LGBTQ harassment
- Jon Bon Jovi Reacts to Criticism Over Son Jake's Engagement to Millie Bobby Brown
- Kid Cudi says he had a stroke at 32. Hailey Bieber was 25. How common are they?
- Demi Lovato opens up about how 'daddy issues' led her to chase child stardom, success
- Chinese warship comes within 150 yards of U.S. missile destroyer in Taiwan Strait
- Flash Deal: Save 67% On Top-Rated Peter Thomas Roth Anti-Aging Skincare
- Wisconsin Farmers Digest What the Green New Deal Means for Dairy
- Social media celebrates Chick-Fil-A's Banana Pudding Milkshake: 'Can I go get in line now?'
- New York counties gear up to fight a polio outbreak among the unvaccinated
Ranking
- Oklahoma city approves $7M settlement for man wrongfully imprisoned for decades
- You'll Flip a Table Over These Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 13 Reunion Looks
- Wisconsin Farmers Digest What the Green New Deal Means for Dairy
- Climate Change Is Happening in the U.S. Now, Federal Report Says — in Charts
- Get 70% Off Kate Spade, 70% Off Coach, 40% Off Banana Republic, 40% Off Disney & Today's Top Deals
- Gwyneth Paltrow Reveals How Chris Martin Compares to Her Other Exes
- Moderna sues Pfizer over COVID-19 vaccine patents
- Allison Holker Shares How Her 3 Kids Are Coping After Stephen “tWitch” Boss’ Death
Recommendation
-
How 'Millionaire' host Jimmy Kimmel helped Team Barinholtz win stunning top prize
-
Is Climate Change Ruining the Remaining Wild Places?
-
Get $135 Worth of Tarte Cosmetics Products for Just $59 Before This Deal Sells Out
-
Today’s Climate: May 7, 2010
-
Big Georgia county to start charging some costs to people who challenge the eligibility of voters
-
Late-stage cervical cancer cases are on the rise
-
Flash Deal: Save 67% On Top-Rated Peter Thomas Roth Anti-Aging Skincare
-
Highlighting the Allure of Synfuels, Exxon Played Down the Climate Risks