ATF To Conduct Investigation Into Lahaina Fire
The federal agency is also assisting local officials in determining the origin and cause.
Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrived on Maui Thursday to investigate the cause and origin of the Lahaina fire, the federal agency announced.
While the agency’s National Response Team will be working with Maui County Fire Department officials, they will also be conducting their own investigation into causes, but not potential criminality.
“We’re gonna determine what happened based on the evidence we discover,” said ATF spokesperson Jason Chudy.
“They’re the best certified fire investigators in the country,” Chudy said. “We send them out with an open mind. No preconceived ideas.”
The five ATF officials include an electrical engineer from the ATF Fire Research Laboratory, two Certified Fire Investigators, a CFI candidate, and an Arson and Explosives Group Supervisor.
The team’s findings will end up in an “Origin and Cause Report,” delivered to local officials.
Once those local officials deem the entire investigation complete, the ATF’s report could be released under the Freedom of Information Act, Chudy said — though officials could make some of it public beforehand.
“We hope the deployment of National Response Team resources will allow the residents of Maui, and the state and nation as a whole, to know that we will do everything in our power to support our local counterparts in determining the origin and cause of the wildfires there, and hopefully bring some healing to the community,” said ATF Seattle Field Division Special Agent In Charge Jonathan McPherson.
The National Response Team has responded to other major disasters, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon.
