The Maui wildfires have killed over 100 people, with at least another 1,000 still missing. Entire communities were destroyed, with residents coming to tell the media they had no warning. The emergency warning systems were never triggered as the fire engulfed the island. There’s no official theory about what sparked the fire, but it’s suspected that it was electrical. High winds from a hurricane system off the coast possibly damaged power lines, leading to a fire. Now, The New York Post has a video that might show the origin of this hellacious brushfire (via NY Post):
CBS News has learned Maui’s emergency operations chief had no background in disaster response. It’s his department that is responsible for setting off warning sirens, which rang silent during the fires. #maui #wildfires #Lahaina #MauiFire
— Norah O'Donnell 🇺🇸 (@NorahODonnell) August 16, 2023
Dramatic, newly released videos show the moment a downed power line in Maui may have played a part in sparking the deadliest US wildfire in more than a century.
Shane Treu, 49, filmed flames coming from a wooden power pole that snapped under high winds early Aug. 8 — just hours before the wildfire that has killed more than 100 people was confirmed as taking hold in now-devastated Lahaina.
“I heard ‘buzz, buzz’ … It was almost like somebody lit a firework,” the resort worker recalled of the live line sizzling and popping on dry grass outside his home.
“It just ran straight up the hill to a bigger pile of grass and then, with that high wind, that fire was blazing,” he said.
“In a matter of minutes, that whole place was just engulfed.”
Treu filmed three Facebook Live videos from about 6:40 a.m., starting with him trying to battle the blaze with a hose and then warning arriving emergency services about the live power line in the road.
[…]
In the days after the initial blaze, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Hawaiian Electric Co., accusing it of failing to turn off the area’s power despite high wind warnings and a number of toppling poles.
“There is credible evidence, captured on video, that at least one of the power line ignition sources occurred when trees fell into a Hawaiian Electric power line,” Mikal Watts, one of the lawyers behind the suit, said of Treu’s footage.
Hawaiian Electric reportedly knew that shutting off power to areas experiencing strong sustained winds is an effective protocol in mitigating wildfires; California has adopted such a practice. The company never adopted it. As for the warning system, the person at the head of the agency responsible for triggering the sirens had no prior experience in disaster response. As for the rising death toll, President Biden initially had no comment, a remark that drew criticism for its cold-hearted nature. Biden will visit the island next week amid mounting public pressure and backlash to his robotic, emotionless statement.
Maui's first reported wildfire last week may have been caused by damaged power lines, according to newly released research conducted by a power monitoring company. https://t.co/DBwiXIaRKt
— ABC News (@ABC) August 17, 2023