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.
The Associated PressHawaiian Electric workers repair a downed power line destroyed by the wildfire in Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Aug. 17. The utility is under scrutiny and facing legal action over the condition of power lines and utility poles on the island amid allegations downed wires may have sparked the fires earlier this month.Videos and images analyzed by The Associated Press confirmed those wires were among kilometres of line that Hawaiian Electric Co.
A 2019 filing said it had fallen behind in replacing the old wooden poles because of other priorities and warned of a "serious public hazard" if they "failed." "We've been executing on a resilience strategy to meet these challenges, and since 2018, we have spent approximately $950 million [US] to strengthen and harden our grid and approximately $110 million on vegetation management efforts," the company said.
"Even tourists that drive around the island are like, 'What is that?' They're leaning quite significantly because the winds over time literally just pushed them over," she said.Sixty per cent of the utility poles on West Maui — 450 of 750 poles — were still down on Aug. 14, according to Hawaiian Electric CEO Shelee Kimura at a media conference.
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