A federal investigation has pinned the blame for the Hawaii wildfire that killed 102 people in August 2023 on a broken power line. The fire originally was attributed to high winds and dry weather conditions, ABC News reports. But Maui's fire chief said Wednesday that the investigation found the blaze spread from a fire started by the "undetected re-energization of broken utility lines, which caused sparks that ignited unmaintained vegetation." The fire was accidental, Bradford Ventura said.
The Maui wildfire was the worst natural disaster in the history of Hawaii, the US Fire Administration said. Other investigations have focused on the response by county and state agencies, as well as police. The latest investigation was carried out by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which consulted local officials. A power line had fallen early on Aug. 8 near the edge of town, per the AP, sparking a fire in overgrown brush. Fire crews responded to it and left several hours later, thinking the fire was out. Later, flames were spotted again, probably rekindled by the winds, the report says.
"A piece of smoldering material hidden in the unmanaged vegetation in the adjacent gully was fueled and reignited by a severe wind event, and the fire resumed with disastrous consequences," Ventura said, per Hawaii News Now. Crews returned quickly but were overmatched. Two fires were thought to be a possibility, but the investigation definitively found that wasn't the case. "This, in fact, was one fire," Ventura said. The report did not address the issue of liability. (More Hawaii wildfires stories.)
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