Fire in Hawaii Exposes ‘Smoke and Mirrors’

Hawaii

The recent catastrophic wildfires in Hawaii have raised serious questions about the causes of such a destructive event. While some have blamed it on climate change and global warming, Hawaiian officials attribute the cause to alleged failures from the state’s main power utility company and downed power lines.

In response, Maui County has filed a lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and its subsidiaries, claiming that they failed to properly power down live electrical equipment despite a National Weather Service Red Flag Warning earlier this month. The lawsuit alleges that HECO’s energized and downed power lines ignited dry fuel such as grass and brush, resulting in several deadly fires on the island.

Maui County claims that HECO has a duty “to properly maintain and repair the electric transmission lines, and other equipment including utility poles associated with their transmission of electricity”. In addition, they allege failure to maintain the system and power grid which caused systemic failures starting three different fires on August 8th.

However, Democratic lawmakers are still blaming human-caused global warming for the disaster which has claimed 115 lives so far. Senators Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Cori Bush of Missouri as well and White House clean energy czar John Podesta have all called for action to reduce carbon emissions to prevent future natural disasters like these fires.

Experts have suggested that while climate change may be playing a role in exacerbating these events, poor forest management is actually at fault here due to an accumulation of fuels during rainy periods which makes these areas more susceptible to fire damage when exposed to hot or windy conditions.

Clay Trauernicht, an environmental management expert from the University of Hawaii at Manoa stated “Hawaii’s fire problem is due to vast areas of unmanaged nonnative grasslands from decades of declining agriculture.”

Therefore, it appears that issues with land management are key factors leading up to this tragedy rather than solely attributing it directly to climate change alone.

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