The cause of last year’s deadly wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, has been revealed. The August 2023 blaze that left more than 100 people dead was caused by the re-energization of broken utility lines in Lahaina, according to an investigation released Wednesday by the Maui Fire Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
The fire has been classified as accidental. Per the report, the re-energization of the line caused sparks, which ignited overgrown vegetation at a surrounding utility pole. The overhead and energized power line fell to the ground, further igniting vegetation.
Investigators initially believed they had extinguished the fire, which started around 6:30 AM, but undetected smoldering material reignited the second phase of the fire hours later, just before 3 PM.
“We want to make abundantly clear to Lahaina and to our Maui 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,” Assistant Chief Jeffrey Giesea said, per NBC News.
According to the report, “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.”
The fire destroyed over 2,000 structures and caused $6 billion in damages.
The report’s findings may or may not sway conspiracy theorists who believe the U.S. government used directed energy weapons to cause the deadly blazes to turn Maui into a “smart island.”
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The post Investigation Reveals Cause of Deadly Maui Wildfire appeared first on VICE.
