Video footage points to downed utility lines as the spark to some of the devastating wildfires that have killed over 100 people on Maui.
Footage captured by a security camera at the Maui Bird Conservation Center last Monday showed the moment a power line sparked a blaze in the woods. The video, posted on Instagram by the Hawaii Department of Land Natural Resources and first reported by The Washington Post, shows a bright flash in the woods before the camera’s power cuts off. When the camera comes back online, large flames appear in the distance.
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“The power goes out, our generator kicks in, the camera comes back online, and then the forest is on fire,” said Jennifer Pribble, a senior research coordinator at the bird conservation center.
The conservation center where the footage was taken from is in the small rural town of Makawao, just over 30 miles from where a massive fire turned much of the historic city of Lahaina to ash. The Makawao fire was the first of multiple fires reported on the island last week. Prior to the fires, Maui faced strong winds from a hurricane hundreds of miles offshore. While the Makawao blaze didn’t reach Lahaina, it was one of the many fires sparked on the island last Monday and Tuesday that eventually reached the town of 13,000.
Whisker Labs, which monitors electric grids across the U.S., said that 10 sensors in Makawao recorded a significant incident in Hawaii’s electric grid at the exact moment the video footage captured the bright light from the utility line, the Post reported. The bright flash seen in the video was likely an “arc flash,” which happens when a power line “faults,” according to a Whisker Labs official.
“This is strong confirmation — based on real data — that utility grid faults were likely the ignition source for multiple wildfires on Maui,” Bob Marshall, the founder and CEO of Whisker Labs, told the Post.
A spokesman for Hawaiian Electric declined to comment on the video and sensor data, instead focusing on “supporting emergency response efforts, restoring power for our customers and communities, and developing a long-term recovery plan.”
“We know there is speculation about what started the fires, and we, along with others, are working hard to figure out what happened,” spokesman Darren Pai added.
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Another video filmed by Lahaina resident Shane Treu, shows him fighting a fire that was sparked by a downed power pole that quickly spread along the side of a road.
“I heard ‘buzz, buzz,’” Treu told the Associated Press. “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.”
Hawaiian Electric has faced criticism for not cutting off power as the island faced a wind storm, a policy practiced by utility companies in other states to avoid sparking fires. A class-action lawsuit has already been filed against the company alleging it is responsible for the deaths of more than 100 people, according to the Associated Press.
“It may turn out that there are other causes of this fire, and the utility lines are not the main cause,” said Michael Wara, a wildfire expert and director of the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University. “But if they are, boy, this didn’t need to happen.”
