Maui Wildfire Disaster updates for Aug. 24 are posted HERE. County officials released a list of 388 people who have been reported as unaccounted for from the Aug. 8 Lahaina wildfire disaster. An additional FEMA Disaster Recovery Center will fully opens today at the Hannibal Tavares Community Center, 91 Pukalani St. in Makawao. To date, more than 10,000 FEMA assistance registrations have been received, with nearly $13.2 million in federal housing and individual assistance provided.
hours before the flames decimated la high know saying that heco still, quote, kept their powerline energized. they do not have a formal shutoff program. and about a week after the wildfire, its president said this. it s worth noting that even in places where this has been used, it is controversial, and it s not universally accepted. it s seen it can be seen as creating a hardship for those customers that have medical needs, that are high risk. joining me now is john fiske. he is the attorney representing maui county in its lawsuit. john, thank you so much for being with us. i want to explain a little bit what the post is reporting here because it s so critical to our discussion that we re going to have here today. this is reporting that is based on court documents and records. and it says that heco removed downed power lines, may have
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95 different times in entities in utility-caused wildfire cases. one of my clients is the town of paradise, which, as you mentioned, suffered severe devastation in the 2018 campfire. i also represented butte county in that same fire. i represented sonoma, napa county, los angeles county, santa barbara county. and these types of civil lawsuits are very regular for counties who are trying to recoup civil damages, which are really taxpayer and public resources in the aftermath of a utility-caused wildfire. we should note, as well, as the post reports, heco, i believe, has hired the law firm that represented pg&e. with you in play and them in play, we re seeing some of the same players here. do you think criminal charges may be warranted here? you know, i have no comment on that. i m a lawyer hired for recovery of civil damages, taxpayer and
what was and wasn t taken yet. so, i don t want to jump to conclusions. so, you re going to see that on monday. but do you think that hawaiian electric, heco, should have known that, considering the parallels that we are seeing here between this fire and the campfire and the potential liability of a utility? do you think they should have known that they shouldn t be moving things? the number of parallels between hawaii electric and what has been going on in california, unfortunately, with pg&e and with southern california edison, are all too familiar. and in fact, that is the basis of our negligence lawsuit, which is that, a, hawaii electric should have had a public safety power shutdown. b, their equipment failed, so clearly they had many multiple points of failure at different areas and different types of