Officials have revealed the cause of Maui’s devastating Lahaina wildfire, which leveled the tropical locale and claimed over 100 lives last summer.
A 300-page investigative report released on Wednesday by the County of Maui Department of Fire and Public Safety (reviewed by People) found that the blaze originated from “the overgrown vegetation at and surrounding utility pole 25 off of Lahainaluna Road.” That fire began at 6:34 a.m. on Aug. 8, 2023, due to “the re-energization of broken utility lines which caused the ejection of molten metallic material (sparks) to fall to the base of pole 25, igniting the unmaintained vegetation below."
“Additionally,” the report continued, “the arcing and severing of the energized overhead power line between pole 25 and 24 resulted in that line falling to the ground, subsequently igniting [more] vegetation below.”
Maui’s Fire Department (MFD) "fully contained and extinguished" the fire during the morning hours, but at 2:52 p.m. “a rekindle occurred…in the gully just east and south of the existing burn area. Fed by extreme winds, the fire quickly grew out of control, jumped the bypass, and resulted in the subsequent conflagration from which our island community is still recovering.”
MFD Chief Brad Ventura said during an Oct. 2 press conference that “the origin and cause of the Lahaina fire is clear: the re-energization of broken power lines caused sparks that ignited unmaintained vegetation in the area.”
MFD Assistant Chief Jeffrey Giesea added that the tragedy was in no part the fault of firefighters. “We want to make abundantly clear to the community that our firefighters went above and beyond their due diligence to be as confident as they could be that the fire was completely extinguished before they left the scene," he specified.
The report determined that 102 people lost their lives in the wildfire, while two remain missing. The catastrophe caused $5.52 billion in damages across the island.
