Retired Maui judge files suit in Kula fire

A Honolulu law firm has filed what its lawyers believe is the first lawsuit on behalf of a resident who lost his home Aug. 8 in the Kula fire.

Retired Maui Chief Circuit Court Judge Shackley Raffetto is suing Maui Electric Co., Hawaiian Electric Co. and Hawaiian Electric Industries over the fire that reduced his house in Kula to ashes. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Oahu Circuit Court. Other lawsuits have been filed against the utility in the Lahaina fire.

Attorney Rick Fried claims Hawaiian Electric and Maui Electric are to blame for failing to cut power to electrical lines despite the advance National Weather Service warnings of a high wind watch and red flag warning.

Fried said Raffetto’s neighbors report seeing a large tree fall and strike a power line as 70 mph winds were blowing. They then report seeing a guy wire, which is used to structurally support the utility pole, electrify just 300 yards from Raffetto’s house.

The complaint says at 10:47 p.m. Aug. 7, a security camera at the Maui Bird Consevation Center recorded a bright flash in the woods. At that moment, 10 sensors in nearby Makawao recorded a fault in the companies’ grid, according to data from Whisker Labs, which uses an advanced sensor network to monitor power grids across the country.

Maui County said its fire investigators have concluded the Kula and Olinda fires have distinct origins. Both were initially reported Aug. 8.

Starting 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, the county announced it would release data for these fires separately. Both had no active threats as of Thursday evening.

The Olinda fire was listed Thursday evening as 85% contained and an estimated 1,081 acres burned. The Kula fire was 80% contained and burned an estimated 202 acres.

They are two of four fires the Maui Fire Department has been battling, including the Lahaina fire that burned an estimated 2,170 acres, and the Pulehu/Kihei fire that was 100% contained Saturday.

Attached to the complaint was a 2019 news release about Hawaiian Electric’s plan to do drone surveys across the islands in areas vulnerable to wildfire and to determine how to best protect the public, including installing electrical infrastructure such as heavier insulated conductors to stop lines from slapping and sparking in high-wind prone areas, and smart switches and fuses to minimize sparks when lines come in contact with vegetation or each other.

Fried’s law firm of Cronin Fried Sekiya Kekina &Fairbanks has teamed up the San Diego law firms of Baron &Budd P.C. and Diab Chambers LLP. He said the former is one of the largest mainland firms handling almost exclusively wildfire cases in California, Fried said.

The complaint says the Kula fire, which started about midnight Aug. 8, destroyed at least 15 structures, which may include the Olinda fire since the complaint does not distinguish between the two.

Cronin Fried held a news conference in their Honolulu office, but Raffetto did not attend as he remained on Maui.

“He’s devastated.”

He left his home the evening of Aug. 8 after he could see the fire getting closer to his house, and returned the next morning to find the charred remains of his home near the Kula Sandalwood Cafe-Inn, his attorneys said.