The Hawaiʻi Attorney General's office released its Phase One report Wednesday on the events of the Aug. 8 wildfire.
Experts from UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute assisted in developing the report, which contains over 12,000 data points on how the deadly blaze spread through the town of Lahaina, killing 101 people and damaging thousands of structures.
It includes a minute-by-minute analysis of the actions taken by emergency organizations and first responders, as well as an assessment of the environmental conditions that exacerbated the crisis.
It does not, however, determine the cause of the Lahaina fire. The Hawaiʻi Attorney General's office has left that responsibility to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
According to the report, the ATF investigation is ongoing, and its release date has not been announced. FSRI's Steve Kerber said at Wednesday's press conference that ATF officials hope to have it ready within a year of the fire.
The report also states that ATF will only release its findings to Maui County, whose officials will then complete the investigation.
Lawmakers have raised concerns that Maui County's involvement in the causation analysis may pose a conflict of interest, as the county faces significant liability for the fire.
Kerber said the attorney general's office and FSRI elected not to conduct their own investigation into the cause of the fire so as not to “duplicate efforts” of ATF.
“We felt that it was important that we allow them to do their work,” he said.
Also absent from the report is a clear picture of what occurred during a crucial window between two fires.
At 2:17 p.m. on Aug. 8, firefighters reported that a fire that ignited in the morning near Kuʻialua Street and Hoʻokahua Place was extinguished. They then left the scene.
At 2:55 p.m., the county began receiving calls of a brushfire in the same location. The report refers to those two fires as the "Lahaina AM fire" and the "Lahaina PM fire."
The latter fire spread quickly, burning homes and other structures. According to the report, it “overwhelmed the town’s limited evacuation routes, some of which were blocked by downed utility poles and electrical lines.”
When asked if the two fires occurring less than 40 minutes apart in the same location could be just one fire that was improperly extinguished, Kerber said he could not confirm whether it was the same fire or two separate incidents.
Hawaiʻi Attorney General Anne Lopez also said her office would not be making a determination on whether the firefighters should have left the scene of the "Lahaina AM fire."
The report also does not make any determination on whether or not Hawaiian Electric Company cut the power to lines in Lahaina during the fires.
For example, the report notes that before firefighters left the scene of the "Lahaina AM fire" at 2:17 p.m., a Maui Electric Company representative came to work on a power line nearby. Yet, they could not confirm that the power was turned off to the line they were working on.
However, in another portion of the report, Hawaiian Electric tells Maui Police and Fire Department that all lines were de-energized in Lahaina earlier that morning.
The report then notes that any official evidence on whether the power was actually turned off will be considered in the ATF investigation.
Phase Two of the report will analyze the policies and procedures at the state and county levels before Aug. 8. Phase Three will offer recommendations for improved wildfire safety in Hawaiʻi.
Senate President Ron Kouchi said that while he expected more Phase Two or Three elements in this first report, he appreciated FSRI's and the attorney general’s attention to detail to make sure the report was accurate and comprehensive.
“The old saying that came to mind for me was, 'Measure twice, cut once,'” he said.
“It wouldn't do any good to try to have them rush or cut short through data . . . Only to find out later, and perhaps in a rather tragic way, that rushing wound up implementing a plan that did not ensure the safety of our residents and guests.”
The legislative session ends in about two weeks, and Kouchi did not think that Phase One of the report would impact any bills this year. However, he hoped that Phase Two and Phase Three, which is expected just before the next legislative session, would be a good guide for policy.
“There's not much to go from the report because phase one was technical data,” he said. “So that's not such an interesting story, it's how they're going to interpret the data and what happened.”
At Wednesday’s press conference, Lopez made clear that the report's intent was not to assign blame to anyone.
“Phase One is so that we can understand what happened on a minute-by-minute basis,” Lopez said, adding that whether or not the various agencies' policies and procedures were “successful” will be a matter for Phase Two.
