We grieve with all those impacted by the Maui Fires.

Hawai`i has 1,000,000 acres (1,500 square miles) of former agricultural land that is now occupied by unmanaged, dense, invasive grassland. It was/is a ticking time-bomb waiting to explode. Lahaina was widely regarded as the most likely location for a devastating fire.

Lahaina experienced a fire in 2018 that burned a greater area than the 2023 Lahaina fire. It should have been a wake-up call. Fires also burned large areas of Central Maui in 2018-19.

How should electric and telecom systems be modified and/or built to prevent future disasters? What can be achieved without a massive increase in utility bills? What lessons can we learn from our own experiences as well as how other places have addressed the issues?

Hawai`i has experienced tsunamis, earthquakes, lava eruptions, hurricanes, rain bombs, droughts, wildfires, and climate-change induced coastal erosion. We will have more. We must be better prepared.

How can critical infrastructure (electricity, telecom, fire suppression systems) be modified and/or built so that they continue to operate during and immediately after an externally-caused disaster?

The Hawai`i Attorney General hired the Fire Safety Research Institute to conduct a three-part investigation to be completed at the end of 2024.
Phase 1: The timeline from ignition through the start of structure-to-structure spread. (3 months)
Phase 2: how did the various fire protection systems function? (6 months)
Phase 3: How do we prevent this from happening again? (12 months)

Should the HECO utilities put on hold their current efforts? Should HECO speed up their efforts? Are there obvious additional things we can do immediately to cut down on the chance of a major fire in 2023-24 timeframe and beyond?

The Hawai`i Supreme Court ruled, “The public utilities commission shall have the general supervision… over all public utilities, and… governs all overhead electric line construction… It is clear that the legislature intended to reserve with the PUC the regulatory powers over public utilities.” Citizens Utilities Co. v. County of Kauai, 72 H. 285, 814 P.2d 398 (1991)

Life of the Land asked the Public Utilities Commission to open a fire investigation as required by HRS §269-9: “Every public utility shall report to the public utilities commission all accidents caused by or occurring in connection with its operations and service, and the commission shall investigate the causes of any accident which results in loss of life.”

Life of the Land is a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Donations are tax-deductible. We do not share our list of supporters. Mahalo for those who have contributed to support our efforts.

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