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Maui firefighters heroically stayed on scene of the morning blaze in Lahaina for five and a half hours after putting it out, county Fire Chief Brad Ventura said during a press conference Wednesday in Wailuku.

That’s more than twice as long as they normally stay after declaring a fire contained, he said in his most extensive comments to date on the Aug. 8, 2023 blaze. But given the gale-force winds and extremely dry conditions that day, his crew wanted to remain as vigilant as possible.

“The wind was so furious that day that they wanted to do their best,” Ventura told Civil Beat on Wednesday afternoon.

His remarks defending firefighters’ actions that day followed the release of an co-produced by Maui Fire Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The 289-page report confirmed the destructive fire was a flare-up of the original blaze, putting to rest suggestions that a fire caused by a downed power line was put out, then an unrelated fire cropped up nearby.

The report, which attempts to explain why 102 people died and an entire town was all but destroyed during the country’s worst wildfire in more than a century, is the latest in a series of reports done by other agencies including the state Attorney General’s Office and the Maui Police Department.

It went to great lengths to absolve firefighters of responsibility: “Following the morning phase of the fire, all available indications showed the fire fully contained and extinguished – no flames, no smoke, and no perceptibly combusting material had been observed for hours. Despite the extraordinary diligence of personnel and the significant number of resources at the scene, undetected smoldering material from the morning phase of the fire initiated the afternoon phase of the fire in a gully adjacent to the existing fire area at 1452 hours.”

Even after the early morning fire was reported 100% contained at 8:52 a.m., Ventura said firefighters kept dousing the burn scar with water and foam until they were confident that the fire was out.

“That’s why they stayed, and they stayed, and they stayed,” he said.

By 2:18 p.m., the firefighters left to restock their equipment and be ready for the next emergency, which already was unfolding Upcountry – arguably the worst fire in state history up until that point, Ventura said.

“We’re confident in the efforts of our firefighters that day,” Ventura said. “We stand behind them in their decision.”

Why No One Stayed Behind

If a Maui firefighter had stayed behind and continued to monitor the extinguished fire, there’s no guarantee that would have done anything to prevent what happened.

“Even if we had left someone there that day, would we have left him in the right place?” Ventura said. “Would that have been the right resource? Would they have been close enough to the rekindle? Maybe not. Probably not. And we probably wouldn’t have caught the fire because of the vast winds and conditions that day.”

Winds were gusting up to 60 miles per hour with a Red Flag warning in effect, indicating critical fire conditions with the potential for rapid spread, according to the new report.

It’s unknown exactly what led to the deadly flare-up in a gully at 2:52 p.m.

Assistant Fire Chief Jeffrey Giesea cited various hypotheses: It could have been reignited by an ember blown around by the wind. It’s possible that heavy equipment cutting firebreaks pushed some smoldering material into the air. Or maybe fire lurked underground until it reached a fuel source on the surface.

“The truth is, the specifics remain undetermined,” Giesea said. “We’re in a situation where we can’t specify precisely the mechanism for that second phase of the fire.”

Rekindled fires are rare, Ventura said. Of the 60 or so fires the department typically responds to in a month, only a tiny fraction re-erupt.

Asked if the Maui fire captain who made the call to leave the scene at 2:18 p.m. was following any standard post-containment protocol, Ventura told Civil Beat that there’s no predetermined playbook.

Instead, judgment calls are left up to the on-scene captain in charge.

“When we look at the conditions there that day and what they faced that day, they made all the right decisions,” Ventura added.

When a reporter at the press conference asked Ventura about his big takeaways from the fire and the subsequent investigation, he urged homeowners to make their properties fire safe.

“From the county’s perspective, it’s all about us continuing to educate the community on how to be safe and push the message of the Firewise program and how to harden your home and prevent ember ignition,” Ventura responded.

He said the department has produced a guide on how to make a home as fire resistant as possible, how to prepare to evacuate, and other tips on when a wildfire breaks out.

But the joint Maui Fire Department and ATF report identified the cause of the Lahaina fire as the re-energization of broken utility lines, which caused sparks to fall to the base of a power pole located near Lahaina Intermediate School. Those sparks ignited overgrown vegetation surrounding the pole, the report found.

Burying Power Lines Could Help

A reporter asked why, if the fire was caused by Hawaiian Electric Co.’s equipment, the Fire Department’s main focus is on the public learning how to prevent fires?

Ventura said his department has long been a proponent of having the utility underground its lines rather than using above-ground poles that can break or be damaged in heavy winds, posing a fire hazard.

“But it’s expensive,” he said. “And then that cost will be passed on to the homeowners. So there’s a balance to be met.”

Shortly after the fire, HECO . On Wednesday, the company issued another statement to prevent another tragedy.

As far as burying its power lines, about half of them on Maui already are underground, said Jim Kelly, vice president of government, community relations and corporate communications.

But there’s more to be done.

“We are looking forward to continuing working with the Lahaina community and government officials on long-term plans for Lahaina that would include the potential to strategically underground power lines and other hardening efforts,” said Shayna Decker, HECO’s director of government and community affairs on Maui, Molokai and Lanai.

Managing Vegetation

Besides burying power lines, vegetation management also plays a large role in ensuring that another deadly wildfire doesn’t happen, Ventura said.

The department is working with large landowners on how to be better stewards of the land and it plans to give out more warnings and violation notices if they’re not properly dealing with invasive grasses and other combustible plants.

Kamehameha Schools, the state’s largest private landowner, is among those named as a defendant in numerous lawsuits over the Lahaina fire. The dry, grassy land where the afternoon flare-up occurred is owned by the private school system, focused on serving children of Hawaiian descent, according to the report released Wednesday.

Kamehameha Schools announced in August it would contribute $872.5 million to a proposed $4 billion settlement fund for Maui wildfire claims.

The fire department is amending its fire code to make it more stringent in requiring firebreaks and “fuel mitigation,” meaning dealing with dry shrubs and grass that are extremely flammable.

It’s also creating high-risk fire maps to designate where firebreaks need to be cut annually. The fire chief said he plans to meet this week with large landowners in West Maui to discuss vegetation management and fire prevention strategies.

“We shouldn’t have to go back to babysit lots over and over again,” Ventura said. “It’s something that is clearly written in our notice of violation.”

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.