Hawaiian Electric Drops as GOP Seeks More Details Over Fire

(Bloomberg) -- House Republicans asked Hawaiian Electric Co. to answer additional questions and provide more documents as part of their probe into the utility’s role in last year’s deadly Lahaina wildfire. 

Shares of parent Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. slumped as much as 4.9% in New York trading Friday.

In a letter to Chief Executive Officer Shelee Kimura, leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said they have additional questions about the company’s wildfire mitigation plan and that “questions persist” about the timeline of events during the August wildfire. 

The utility has come under scrutiny for its possible role in the Aug. 8 blaze that killed at least 101 and incinerated the historic town on the island of Maui. 

The letter, made public Friday, asked the company to provide documents and communications related to the utility’s work with TLH Project Management, a consultant Hawaiian Electric hired in 2019 to help develop its wildfire mitigation plan. The committee also asked whether the utility was receiving real-time updates on weather conditions — particularly wind — at the time of the fire.

Hawaiian Electric did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wildfires sparked by electric utility equipment and fanned by high winds have become a problem throughout the western US, as climate change and years of drought have left the landscape primed to burn. Texas officials this month blamed the state’s largest wildfire in history on power lines. 

“As fires involving electrical equipment continue to threaten lives, property, and energy reliability, the Committee has a responsibility to understand how these disasters unfold and how they can be prevented,” the committee’s letter to Kimura said.

Hawaiian Electric has acknowledged that its equipment started a small fire on the edge of Lahaina the morning of the deadly blaze. But the company says that fire was extinguished by firefighters, and another that started nearby hours later destroyed the town. 

(Adds details and background beginning in fifth paragraph. Previous version corrected death toll.)

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