Lawmakers probing the cause of last month’s deadly Maui wildfire did not get many answers during Thursday’s congressional hearing on the role the electrical grid played in the disaster.
Still, the president of Hawaiian Electric — Maui’s sole electricity provider — promised to gather and provide more details about exactly what happened on Aug. 8, including when the power stopped flowing through downed power lines in Lahaina and exactly when the decision was made to trigger a procedure designed to make sure that broken lines were not re-energized.
Shelee Kimura also said the utility doesn’t have the right or responsibility to clear dry brush or other vegetation on private property — even if it is in the right-of-way, directly underneath power lines — unless the plants or trees are tall enough to potentially contact the lines.
The fire in the historic town of Lahaina killed at least 97 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, mostly homes. It first erupted at 6:30 a.m. when strong winds appeared to cause a Hawaiian Electric power line to fall, igniting dry brush and grass near a large subdivision.
Aerial and satellite imagery reviewed by The Associated Press show the gully where the fire reignited later that afternoon has long been choked with plants and trash, which a severe summer drought turned into tinder-dry fuel for fires. Photos taken after the blaze show charred foliage in the utility’s right-of-way still more than 10 feet high.
During the U.S. House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing, lawmakers questioned Kimura and other utility officials about how the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century began — and whether the electrical grid in Lahaina was safe and properly maintained.
There is still much to sort out about the fire, Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Virginia, said at the hearing’s start. Among questions that need to be answered are how the fires spread and what efforts to reduce fire risk have been made in recent years.
“It is extremely important that we … ask the hard questions,” he said.
Those testifying were Kimura, Hawaii Public Utilities Commission Chair Leodoloff Asuncion Jr. and Hawaii Chief Energy Officer Mark Glick.
Asked to address whether the electrical grid in Lahaina was safe and properly maintained, Kimura told the committee that 2,000 of the company’s wooden power poles had not been tested or treated for possible termites, rot or other problems since 2013. The other 29,000 poles on the island had been assessed under Hawaiian Electric’s “test and treat” program, she said, but the remaining 2,000 had not yet been done.
Kimura said she didn’t know exactly where those untested poles were located or if they were in the area of the Lahaina fire. But at least one pole near where the fire started was tested and treated in 2022, she said.
Many different factors like drought need to be taken into account when looking at the fire, she said, and a lot of people and organizations were involved.
“There’s a system here that was in play for all of these conditions to happen all at one time that resulted in the devastation in Lahaina,” she said.
Both Kimura and Asuncion addressed the possibility of burying power lines underground to reduce the risk of wildfires, especially in high-wind conditions. About 50% of the power lines in Hawaii are now underground, Kimura said. However, Asuncion said burying power lines can be cost-prohibitive, and has a big impact on rate-payers.
“I get that,” Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, responded. “But sometimes the cost of doing nothing gets to be prohibitive too.”
