The Hawaii electric company whose equipment is believed to have sparked the deadly Maui wildfire removed damaged infrastructure from where the blaze likely started — a move that may have jeopardized the federal investigation into the disaster.show that the utility company hauled away fallen poles, power lines, transformers, conductors and other equipment from the area surrounding the Lahaina substation starting on Aug.
But in a statement, Hawaiian Electric spokesman Darren Pai said the company has been “in regular communication with ATF and local authorities and are operating with them as well as attorneys representing people affected by the wildfires, with inventories and access to the removed equipment, which we have carefully photographed, documented and stored.”
Locals have told the Post how the fire started early in the morning of Aug. 8 when a transformer blew and sparked dry grass on Maui County-owned land, just about a mile away from Lahaina’s historic waterfront. In one of those suits, a law firm representing more than two dozen Lahaina families asked Hawaiian Electric to preserve the evidence twice beginning on Aug. 10, according to correspondence obtained by the Post.
“Hawaiian Electric will take reasonable steps to preserve evidence, but cannot make any guarantees due to the rapidly evolving situation on the ground, which is also not within our control,” the letter read, according to the Washington Post.
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