{"id":2011750,"date":"2023-08-25T09:33:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T13:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/maui-county-sues-hawaiian-electric-alleges-intentional-and-malicious-mismanagement-led-to-fires\/"},"modified":"2023-08-25T09:37:45","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T13:37:45","slug":"maui-county-sues-hawaiian-electric-alleges-intentional-and-malicious-mismanagement-led-to-fires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/maui-county-sues-hawaiian-electric-alleges-intentional-and-malicious-mismanagement-led-to-fires\/","title":{"rendered":"Maui County sues Hawaiian Electric, claims deliberate mismanagement caused fires."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmaui-county-sues-hawaiian-electric-alleges-intentional-and-malicious-mismanagement-led-to-fires%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2011750&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Government Officials Blame Utility\u2063 Company for Devastating Fires \u200cin Maui<\/h2>\n<p>Government officials in \u200cMaui are\u200d pointing fingers at the \u200cutility \u200dcompany for the destructive fires that ravaged\u200b the \u200bisland, claiming the lives of\u2063 at least 115\u200b people. Maui County has filed\u200c a lawsuit\u200b against the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO), alleging \u2063that their mismanagement of \u200dpower \u2063lines intentionally led to the blaze that reduced\u2063 much of Lahaina to ashes.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Defendants\u2063 knew of the extreme fire\u2064 danger that the high \u200dwind\u2062 gusts \u200cposed\u2064 to their overhead electrical\u2064 infrastructure, particularly during \u2062<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/red-flag-conditions-drive-oregon-wildfires\/\" title=\"Oregon wildfires fueled by 'Red Flag' conditions.\">red flag\u200b conditions<\/a>,&#8221; the lawsuit stated.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Hawaiian Electric responded to the lawsuit, expressing disappointment that Maui County\u2064 chose litigation while the investigation is still ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>The utility company, which serves around 95% \u200bof Hawaiians, \u200bhas faced criticism for prioritizing green energy projects over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hawaii-regulators-and-utility-company-knew-of-fire-hazards-yet-failed-to-act-report\/\" title=\"Report: Hawaii regulators and utility company aware of fire hazards but neglected to take action.\">fire mitigation efforts<\/a>. Financial disclosures and reports indicate \u200cthat while the company was aware of the risks of wildfires, \u2062it allocated resources to\u2062 expanding its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/state-agency-led-by-water-equity-advocate-delayed-water-request-during-wildfire-to-consult-with-farmers-maui-company-says\/\" title=\"Maui company claims water request during wildfire delayed by water equity advocate-led state agency for consultation with farmers.\">green energy network<\/a> \u200cinstead of taking \u2064significant action to\u2063 mitigate fire hazards.<\/p>\n<p>Strong winds, fueled by a hurricane 500 miles off the coast of Maui,\u200d caused around 30 power poles to\u2064 collapse, igniting numerous\u2062 fires. Video footage captured the moment a downed power line sparked a blaze in \u2062the woods. The lawsuit alleges that HECO \u200bfailed to power down their electrical equipment despite\u2064 a National Weather Service Red Flag\u2062 Warning.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit also reveals that HECO never established\u200c a &#8220;Public Safety Power Shutoff&#8221; plan, \u200da common practice \u200cin\u200c the Western United States. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/maui-county-sues-hawaiian-electric-alleges-intentional-and-malicious-mismanagement-led-to-fires\/\" title=\"Maui County sues Hawaiian Electric, claims deliberate mismanagement caused fires.\">utility \u200ccompany faces \u200cadditional lawsuits<\/a> \u200cfrom homeowners and shareholders who believe they were negligent. However,\u200d this lawsuit \u2062marks the first\u2064 time the local \u200dgovernment directly holds \u2063the\u200c utility accountable for the fire&#8217;s destruction, which is \u200cestimated to have caused $5.5 billion in damages to Maui County.<\/p>\n<h3>Government Officials Under Scrutiny<\/h3>\n<p>Government officials are also facing scrutiny for their actions during and after the fire. Maui Emergency Management Agency Chief Herman\u2063 Andaya chose not to use the island&#8217;s \u200cemergency sirens to alert residents, citing that \u200cthey are typically \u200breserved for tsunami warnings.\u2062 Andaya resigned \u2064the day after explaining his \u2063decision, citing health \u2063reasons.<\/p>\n<p>The Hawaii\u2062 Commission on Water\u2063 Resource Management\u2062 was accused \u200bof delaying\u2063 a request for more water to fight the\u200d fire\u200d due to \u2062consultations with local \u2064farmers. The agency&#8217;s former leader, \u200ca &#8220;water equity\u200c advocate,&#8221; was reassigned to a different division following the fires.<\/p>\n<p>When residents\u2064 attempted to flee Lahaina, witnesses \u200creported that\u200d the only paved road out of town was blocked by local authorities. Traffic quickly backed up as\u200b residents tried to escape to the south, but the road was obstructed due to \u200bcrews working on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-normal-for-the-entire-planet-hawaii-dem-senator-blames-climate-change-for-tragic-maui-fire\/\" title=\"Hawaii Senator links tragic Maui fire to climate change, calls it the 'new normal'.\">downed power\u200b lines<\/a>. \u200cDespite the barricade,\u2063 one family managed to swerve past the cones\u2062 and reach safety \u2062in another town.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Nobody realized how\u2062 little \u2062time \u2063we really had,&#8221; said Nate Baird, who narrowly escaped with\u2062 his\u2063 family. &#8220;We did not comprehend that we literally had\u2062 minutes and one wrong turn could have cost us our\u2064 lives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Maui Police Chief John Pelletier denied claims \u2063that residents were\u2064 prevented from fleeing Lahaina.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\">CLICK\u2064 HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i>Tim Pearce contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Government officials in Maui are accusing the utility company of mismanagement, holding them responsible for the deadly fires that claimed 115 lives. Maui County has filed a lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO), claiming that their negligent handling of power lines caused the destructive blaze.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":324,"featured_media":2011751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2011750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2011750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2011750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2011750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2011751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2011750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2011750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2011750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}