Video footage captured by residents on Maui suggests downed utility lines may have sparked the wildfires that have left more than 100 people dead on the island.
These videos, posted on social media, have offered some insights into what may have caused the fires that have killed at least 106 people and destroyed thousands of structures as of Wednesday. Maui resident Shane Treu livestreamed his attempt to battle the flames in the historic town of Lahaina last week on Facebook, where the video shows him wetting down his property with a garden house.
Treu told The Associated Press he saw a wooden power pole snap in the early morning last week, and its live wire fell onto dry grass and quickly sparked flames. Footage he posted shows a large line of fire below power lines and he could be heard telling drivers and responders the wire was live.
“I heard ‘buzz, buzz,’” he told the AP. “It was almost like somebody lit a firework. It just ran straight up the hill to a bigger pile of grass and then, with that high wind, that fire was blazing.”
In a video posted on Instagram, security camera footage of the Maui Bird Conservation Center recorded a bright flash in a wooded area, The Washington Post first reported.
“I think that is when a tree is falling on a power line,” Jennifer Pribble, a senior research coordinator at the center, could be heard saying in the video. “The power goes out, our generator kicks in, the camera comes back online, and then the forest is on fire.”
Officials have maintained that the cause of the wildfires is still under investigation, reiterating that high winds and dry conditions fueled the flames of the natural disaster. However, a Hawaiian couple filed a class-action lawsuit against the state’s electric utility this past weekend, alleging that Hawaiian Electric contributed to the wildfires by not shutting off power to the lines during high-wind advisories.
Attorney Mikal Watts, who is a member of the legal team behind the lawsuit, told the AP 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.” He said he was referring to Treu’s footage.
“Despite Defendants’ knowledge about these Red Flag and other warnings, Defendants left their power lines energized. These power lines foreseeably ignited the fast-moving, deadly, and destructive Lahaina Fire, which destroyed homes, businesses, churches, schools, and historic cultural sites,” the lawsuit states. “The fire killed scores of people and ruined hundreds — if not thousands — of lives.”
“Many people remain missing. This fire marks the most destructive — and deadliest — human-made disaster in Hawai‘i history,” the suit said.
Since last Tuesday, the company says it has restored power to about 80 percent of the customers. Maui County officials said Tuesday that about 2,000 businesses and homes remain without power.
The Hill has reached out to Hawaiian Electric for comment.