Got It

What Seems Suspicious Is That It Was Not Until Twenty Days Later (Aug. 28, 2023) That the Electric Company Finally Released This Claim.

After All the Finger-Pointing, Threats of Lawsuits and Legislative and Legal Action, and Conspiracy Theories, Had Already Been Arrayed Against Them.

Wouldn’t you have thought they’d announce this right away?

Hawaiian Electric Says Power Lines Were Shut Off Hours Before Wildfire
Reuters/MSN / 8/28/23

(Reuters) – Hawaiian Electric’s shares jumped more than 40% on Monday after the utility said its power lines in West Maui had been shut down for more than six hours before wildfires started in the area during the afternoon.

… [Blame starts on the electric company from all the news and all the quotes that the press can find — it’s clearly the fault of that darned company. Everyone sees it. Their share price drops. “The electric company may even face bankruptcy!” Then someone pulls this *exoneration* out of their back pocket — and those who bought shares on the downturn will now profit by at least 40% — and climbing, once the Federal Government invests heavily in infrastructure improvements because it’s so darned urgent. “We’ve seen the disaster! Think of the losses! We must invest to fix it!” Billions, or trillions, are poured into the company by the federal government. The stock soars. Can’t be the first time this has happened. — Oppo]

Hawaiian Electric said on Monday that a morning fire on Aug. 8 caused by power lines that fell in high winds was subsequently reported “100% contained” and later declared “extinguished” by the Maui County Fire Department.

The utility said another afternoon fire started in the same area more than six hours after all of its power lines in West Maui had been de-energized, which could not be contained by the fire department and spread out of control toward Lahaina.

Three web comments I liked:

“Someone needs to check the clocks in homes that never got burned to see if they reflected a power outage.”

(i.e., six hours before the fires.)

“So the cops had to block the exit roads because of downed live power lines, and the power company said the lines had already been shut off?”

“They’re in a bit of a quandary … if they blame the fire on the electric company, it’s a man-caused fire and not a natural disaster.

“If it’s not a natural disaster, they can’t subvert the native Hawaiian sacred land laws (Lahaina is designated sacred ground), the historic district laws and rezoning laws. At least that is what I understand about the executive order that was written in July, which apparently stated that after a natural disaster, all those zoning laws were null and void.

“Interesting timing though.”