The deadly disaster occurred because of a single fire that was initially ignited by reenergized, broken power lines, a report has found.
Sparks from broken power lines caused the deadly August 2023 wildfire in Maui, Hawaii, according to a new report published on Oct. 2 by the Maui County Department of Fire and Public Safety and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The deadly disaster on the island occurred when a fire sparked by reenergized broken power lines off Lahainaluna Road that was believed to have been extinguished in the morning by responding firefighters was rekindled in the afternoon, the Origin and Cause report found.
The “re-energization” of the broken utility lines “caused the ejection of molten metallic material (sparks) to fall to the base of pole 25, igniting the unmaintained vegetation below,” the report states.
Firefighters who attended the scene at 6:34 a.m. on Aug. 8, 2023, believed that they had contained that fire after roughly 2 1/2 hours of observation of the power lines and the surrounding area, with all “available indicators” showing that the fire was fully contained and extinguished, the report states.
However, material from the same fire was somehow transported to a nearby gully full of brush, grass, and short trees, where it reignited flames later in the day after firefighters had left the scene, according to the report.
It is not exactly clear what caused the fire to rekindle, although the one possible explanation is that strong winds blew undetected embers into the dry gully, according to the report.
“Despite the extraordinary diligence of personnel and the significant number of resources at the scene, undetected smoldering material from the morning phase of the fire initiated the afternoon phase of the fire in a gully adjacent to the existing fire area at 1452 hours,” it states.
Driven by those strong and erratic winds, the bushfire quickly morphed into what became the fifth deadliest in U.S. history and the worst natural disaster in Hawaii’s history, killing at least 102 people in the historic town of Lahaina and destroying thousands of buildings.
