Father of woman killed in Maui wildfires sues government for negligence

The father of a woman killed in the deadly wildfires last month in Hawaii has sued the state, local government of Maui, his local utility company and large landowners in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit alleging they are responsible for the disaster.

Harold Wells filed suit Monday against the group, alleging the government and Hawaiian Electric were negligent and responsible for the death and destruction caused by a raging wildfire that destroyed the town of Lahaina and ended up killing more than 100 people.

The fire was speculated to have started due to downed power lines owned by the electric company in the hills east of Lahaina. Multiple suits have alleged the utility’s infrastructure caused the blaze. 

Wells argues in the filing that government officials and the utility were aware that nonnative vegetation, dried out by weather, posed a serious fire risk to communities.

“The combination of weather, uncontrolled vegetation and aging electrical infrastructure created a tinderbox ready to explode in Maui.” the suit reads. “The risk was not theoretical.”

The lawsuit also argues the officials and Hawaiian Electric should have learned from a 2018 fire that burned over 20 homes near Lahaina and changed policies. The owners of the land in the hills above the town where the fire started should have also been aware of the risks of unmanaged vegetation, it reads.

“Despite this history of serious fires caused by predictable weather conditions, no one in a position to effect change did anything to prevent or substantially mitigate the risk,” the suit states. “The result of these years of neglecting and disregarding the risk that the 2018 Fires would be repeated when similar conditions inevitably occurred was the greatest single-day loss of life and property in Hawai‘i history on August 8, 2023, a catastrophe and tragedy for which all Defendants named herein should share in the fault.”

The filing also cites reports from the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization that note the Lahaina region as one of “high concern” for fires and recommend methods to reduce flammable vegetation. It claims about 30 percent of landowners in the area did not make any attempt to control vegetation on their properties.

Reports from Maui County cited in the lawsuit also mark West Maui as an area with a “high likelihood” of wildfires.

Hawaiian Electric was also aware of the risk caused by weakening infrastructure, Wells claimed in his suit. He also cited 2022 requests for funds to improve the power infrastructure statewide to help prevent wildfires, as well as lessons learned from California wildfires that have been blamed on similar utility infrastructure.

“[Hawaiian Electric] should have planned for such improvements long before 2022,” the suit reads. “Energy experts have long called for the utility to harden its grid, and despite the cost, to put more of it underground.”

“Had they done so, the capital improvements would have enabled the grid to withstand the hurricane level winds that whipped across Maui on August 8, 2023 and in so doing, prevented a deadly fire,” Wells added.

The suit also criticizes local government authorities for responding to the fires poorly, specifically alleging the city didn’t adequately warn its residents. The county has come under widespread criticism for its response, including the choice not to use warning sirens as the fire approached.

Wells’s demands in the suit include burial expenses for his daughter, compensation for her death and additional penalties as determined by a judge, if he wins the case.