Free Republic

Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. (“Hawaiian Electric”), a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE: HE) (“HEI”), today issued the following update in response to the lawsuit filed on Thursday by the County of Maui.—— break ——- Several important facts are clear about the events on Aug. 8: • A fire at 6:30 a.m. (the “Morning Fire”) appears to have been caused by power lines that fell in high winds. • The Maui County Fire Department responded to this fire, reported it was “100% contained,” left the scene and later declared it had been “extinguished.” • At about 3 p.m., a...

The utility said power lines toppled by high winds likely caused the morning brush fire in Lahaina but electricity had been off for hours when a second fire occurred that afternoon. [emphasis added] Hawaiian Electric said power lines appear to have caused the brush fire that started at 6:30 a.m. local time at the intersection of Lahainaluna Road and Hookahua Street in the historic town. The small fire near the downed poles spread into a field near Lahaina Intermediate School. The Maui County Fire Department responded to the morning fire and declared it had been extinguished, according to the company’s...

Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. (“Hawaiian Electric”), a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc., issued an update in response to the lawsuit filed by the County of Maui on Thursday. “Our hearts and hands are with the people of Lahaina and Maui,” said Shelee Kimura, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric. “Hawaiʻi has thrived on the collective strength and unity of our community, and we need to embrace that spirit now more than ever. There are important lessons to be learned from this tragedy by all of us collectively, and we are resolved to figure out what we need to do...

In the first moments of the Maui fires, when high winds brought down power poles, slapping electrified wires to the dry grass below, there was a reason the flames erupted all at once in long, neat rows — those wires were bare, uninsulated metal that could spark on contact... those wires were among miles of line that Hawaiian Electric Co. left naked to the weather and often-thick foliage, despite a recent push by utilities in other wildfire- and hurricane-prone areas to cover up their lines or bury them. Compounding the problem is that many of the utility’s 60,000, mostly wooden...