a controversial practice, even though it is done in places like california, nevada, oregon as a way of preventing wildfires. the electric company spokesperson told cnn that their priority is to support the people and county of maui and they re disappointed that the county took this litigious route. separately the washington post is reporting that the utility removed damaged poles, downed lines and other equipment from where the lahaina fires reportedly started, which prevented investigators from being able to view the scene undisturbed. that s according to the post s investigation into court documents, letters and records, cnn is still trying to independently confirm that. but the post does report that those actions violated national guidelines on how utilities should handle and preserve evidence after a wildfire. and deprives investigators of that opportunity to view any downed poles or lines in that
communication with atf and local authorities and are cooperating to provide them as well as attorneys representing people affected by the wildfires with inventories and access to the removed equipment which they say we have carefully photographed, documented, and stored. jim? so to be clear, is the story alleging that the power company removed the evidence to hide the evidence or that it just went in and started removing things too early, right, based on what the protocols are? reporter: the bottom line is that the investigators did not have a chance to go and look at the scene undisturbed. so the utility companies, though, say they documented and photographed what things looked like before they removed them. understood. natasha chen, thank you so much. brianna? we have breaking news out of louisiana. a fire has broken out at a marathon petroleum site in st. john the baptist parish. this is about 40 miles west of new orleans. an emergency declaration and mandatory evacuation is