The Maui fire, which killed 102 in Lahaina, broke out from an earlier fire

The Aug. 8, 2023, fire — the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century — broke out in the afternoon in the same area as the fire that started earlier that morning. Driven by high and erratic winds, the fire tore through the historic town of Lahaina, destroying thousands of buildings, overrunning people trapped in cars and forcing some residents to flee into the ocean.

It was not clear whether the fire was a separate fire or a rekindling of the morning fire and whether firefighters had to leave the scene after spending hours putting it out. The answers could prove significant to questions about liability for the destruction, although a $4 billion settlement was reached.

In presenting their findings, officials with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Maui Fire Department did not address liability, but found that the fire was clearly a rekindling of the morning fire — most likely from the cause of the wind blowing an undetected ember into a nearby, dry, overgrown gully.

“We deeply regret that our operations contributed to the fire that started this morning,” Hawaiian Electric Co., whose power lines sparked the earlier fire, said in a statement Wednesday. “Faced with an extraordinary weather event and a chaotic situation, our employees gave their best at work, as they do every day.”

Officials stressed that Maui firefighters did their best to extinguish the morning fire before leaving to respond to other calls for service on a day when other fires were burning around the island.

“They deployed countless resources, spent a lot of time on the scene and observed the scene after they thought it was out,” Jonathan Blais, ATF special agent in charge of the Seattle Field Division, which includes Hawaii, told a news. conference. “So yeah, I think they did their best.”

While wind was the most likely cause of the fire’s rekindling, the ATF report said investigators could not rule out another possibility: that the operator of a bulldozer, who was trying to help firefighters contain the fire, could have been unwittingly pushed smoldering debris to the side of the ditch, only to burst into flames hours later.

“The close proximity of the freshly cut firebreak to the western edge of the gully does not allow investigators to rule out the possibility that, while cutting the firebreak, the operator unknowingly moved burning vegetation or smoldering debris into the gully,” the report said. said.

The owner of the company that provided the bulldozer told ATF investigators less than two weeks after the fire that it happened because a friend who lived nearby called for help. The owner did not respond to multiple requests for a follow-up interview, the report said. Neither the owner nor its crew members were identified in the report.

Video from inside the bulldozer showed it piling up loose soil and burning vegetation at the edge of the ditch, the report said.

Bulldozers driven by volunteers and contractors are frequently used to protect towns and farms from wildfires in the western US, although some groups have questioned their effectiveness in extreme weather conditions.

The ATF report was included as an appendix in a report by the Maui Fire Department, which asked the agency last year to help determine how the fire started. Several other agencies also investigated the fire and its response, detailing poor conditions — including emergency response missteps — that contributed to the tragic outcome.

Communication between police and firefighters was spotty, cell phone networks were down, and emergency officials did not activate emergency sirens that could have warned residents to evacuate. Power lines and poles were down in many locations in the city, and police blocked some roads to protect residents from the potentially dangerous power lines. First responders also had trouble getting a firm answer from Hawaiian Electric representatives if power was out in the area.

Blocked roads contributed to gridlock that left fleeing people trapped in cars as the flames advanced. Others died in their homes or outside while trying to escape. The death toll surpassed that of the 2018 wildfire in Northern California, which killed 85 and destroyed the town of Paradise.

Thousands of Lahaina residents have sued various parties they believe are to blame for the fire, including Hawaiian Electric, Maui County and the state of Hawaii. The defendants often tried to point the finger at each other, with Hawaiian Electric saying the county should not have left the first fire unattended and Maui County claiming the utility failed to take proper care of the power grid. Exactly who was responsible for clearing the brush and maintaining the area was also a point of contention among the defendants, along with the lack of a public safety power outage program.

Days before the one-year anniversary of the wildfires, Hawaii Governor Josh Green announced a $4 billion settlement. That’s the amount the defendants — including Hawaiian Electric, the state, Maui County, large landowners and others — agreed to pay to settle the claims.

But the settlement is tied up in court, pending a decision by the Hawaii Supreme Court on whether the insurance companies can separately pursue the defendants to recover what they paid out to policyholders. Lawyers for the claimants fear allowing insurance companies to sue Hawaiian Electric and others will undermine the settlement, deplete what is available to pay fire victims and lead to protracted litigation.

Jake Lowenthal, an attorney representing the people suing for the fire, said the report did not provide any information that would change their theory of liability in the case: that firefighters left the scene, that the utility did not maintain its equipment or has no power. shutdown program and that some large landowners left their properties unkempt with dry and overgrown vegetation that provided enough fuel for the fire.

“Every piece of additional information allows the community to continue to heal,” Lowenthal said, “and allows us to move forward with how the fire was started and how we can continue to protect the community to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” happen again “