This was done before the onset of high winds. "The company has protocols that may be used when high winds are expected, including not enabling the automatic reclosure of circuits that may open during a weather event. "Hawaiian Electric has a robust wildfire mitigation and grid resiliency program that includes vegetation management, grid hardening investments and regular inspection of our assets," the company's statement said. Citing documents, a Washington Post report noted that the provider did not shut off electricity to areas where strong winds were expected and could spark flames.Ī spokesperson for Maui Electric told CBS News in a statement that some steps were taken to mitigate the possibility of fires sparking before hurricane winds arrived. "While Hurricane Dora passes well south with no direct impacts here, the strong pressure gradient between it & the high pressure to the north creates a threat of damaging winds & fire weather (due to ongoing dry conditions) from early Mon to Wed," the agency said at the time.Ĭlaims surfaced in the following days that Hawaiian Electric, which operates Maui Electric and services 95% of the state overall, did not implement precautionary safety measures included in an emergency plan to reduce wildfire risks ahead of the storm. The National Weather Service noted in a tweet before the fires started that significant differences in atmospheric pressure between the hurricane and the air north of Hawaii formed a pressure gradient over the islands which, when combined with dry conditions, posed a serious threat of fires as well as damaging winds. Hessemer, who owned a business in Lahaina, later told "CBS Mornings." "We just decided it was not safe to stay around for the day." Power lines were down everywhere.," Maui resident J.D. "The winds were just getting out of control. "It is a product, in my estimation, of certainly global warming combined with drought, combined with a super storm, where we had a hurricane offshore several hundred miles, still generating large winds," Green told CNN. 11 that he believes a confluence of weather conditions contributed to the ignition and spread of the blazes. "The power goes out, our generator kicks in, the camera comes back online, and then the forest is on fire." A wildfire is seen on the Hawaiian island of Maui, August 8, 2023, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video.Ĭourtesy of Dominika Durisova via ReutersĮchoing wildfire experts, Gov. "I think that is when a tree is falling on a power line," Pribble said on Instagram. In that social media post, Jennifer Pribble, a senior research coordinator at the organization, suggested the flash may have happened after a tree fell on a power line during strong winds. The Washington Post originally reported on the video, which the conservation center shared to its Instagram page over the weekend. 8, Maui County shared the first details about a Kula brush fire that had forced evacuations early that morning.Ī video clipped from security camera footage at the Maui Bird Conservation Center - located along Olinda Road in Makawao, directly adjacent to Kula - appears to show a flash in the woods around their property at 10:47 p.m. The earliest blaze reported by Maui County officials was described as a brush fire in the Olinda Road area of Kula, a town in the island's Upcountry region, where wildfires eventually burned through about 700 acres and claimed 19 homes. That, along with low humidity and high winds, "set the conditions for the wildfires," he said. Kenneth Hara, commander general of the Hawaii Army National Guard, said at a briefing Wednesday, Aug. "We don't know what actually ignited the fires, but we were made aware in advance by the National Weather Service that we were in a red flag situation - so that's dry conditions for a long time, so the fuel, the trees and everything, was dry," Maj. ![]() Much of Hawaii was under a red flag warning for fire risk when the wildfires broke out, with dangerous high wind conditions caused by Hurricane Dora, a Category 4 storm that was moving across the Pacific Ocean hundreds of miles south of the Hawaiian islands. ![]() ![]() Investigators are looking into whether downed power lines and decisions by Hawaiian Electric, the state's primary power company, played a role. An investigation is underway to determine what initially sparked the wildfires, and the cause has not been officially determined.
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