LAHAINA, Hawaii (KHON2) -- Maui County will reveal the official cause and origin of 2023's deadly Lahaina wildfire on Wednesday, Oct. 1. Many from the governor to legal and technical experts said they don't expect surprises, but said accountability is still crucial.
The long-awaited Maui Fire Department report will be publically disclosed during mid-day on Wednesday to release the cause and origin of the August 2023 wildfire that killed more than 100 people.
Federal investigation results will be an appendix. Governor Josh Green M.D. gave a preview earlier this week on Wake Up 2Day.
"The fire occurred, some of the coals reignited and then went up into the wind because of the hurricane-force winds that were 74 to 80 mph. Very old wooden set of structures and the town tragically burned," said Green.
Attorneys representing victims gave even more detail of what experts said caused the fire in the first place.
"Our investigation determined that the fire started when a termite-infested pole snapped under the force of the wind and then HECO turned back on the power without first determining whether it was safe, which caused a fire," said Aaron Creps from Leavitt, Yamane and Soldner.
From there, experts found a series of other errors and oversights that may have contributed to the spread.
"Firefighters did the best to put it out, but didn't get it completely put out, and was able to reignite later in the afternoon and then fueled by really highly flammable grasses on property owned by combat schools and others. The fire was able to move down the mountain and destroy the town," Creps added.
The state Attorney General's fire investigation pointed out similar findings, stating in their recent reveal that "a lack of electrical utility vegetation abatement at the base of utility poles and near transmission lines (may have created) a receptive fuel source for arcing electrical wires."
The state PUC appears to be on a similar track. HECO had until Tuesday, Oct. 1 to answer the PUC on a list of questions, what the PUC is calling a "nondocketed case" asking particularly about pole loading, inspections, wind-speed design and nearby vegetation.
According to a HECO spokesperson, "The report comes out [Wednesday] so until then, we're not going to respond to speculation about what it says."
Many don't expect the county and federal findings to be much different than what experts and investigators have already pointed out or are in the middle of digging into. Stakeholders said the $4 billion settlement with victims should still move forward.
"The ATF report itself is not going to have any impact on the settlement as far as I can see. But I wouldn't say that the ATF report and reports like it are meaningless, and the big takeaway should be what went wrong and how it can be prevented in the future," said Creps.