Hawaiian Electric announced today that it has begun discussions with government, emergency response and community stakeholders to determine how a Public Safety Power Shutoff program can be designed and implemented to reduce wildfire risk.

Before the Aug. 8 wildfire that killed at least 99 people in Lahaina, the company had determined that such a program wasn’t right for its service areas throughout Oahu, Maui County and Hawaii island. That decision, however, has been questioned by government officials and others.

“With the events of Aug. 8 fresh in our minds, safety remains our top priority, and as drought conditions continue, Hawaii is seeing heightened risks for wildfires across the state, as we have seen this week with a fire near Mililani,” Jim Alberts, Hawaiian Electric senior vice president and chief operations officer, said in a statement. “We are building upon our current strategy and implementing new and expanded practices to further reduce the risk of wildfires.”

Work on a wildfire safety strategy at Hawaiian Electric began in 2019, according to the company, and has evolved to address elevated risks in the state.

The company also announced today that it is immediately implementing new procedures aimed at reducing the chances of its system sparking a wildfire.

One new procedure is to deploy spotters to strategic locations in risk areas to watch for fire ignition if the National Weather Service issues a red flag warning signifying expected sustained strong winds, warm temperatures and low humidity.

Another immediate new procedure is having power lines in risk areas shut off automatically if a fault or disturbance is detected on a circuit, and keeping such lines off until crews visually confirm that it is safe to restore power. Hawaiian Electric said this procedure may result in longer outages in some areas, including outages that last overnight.

Hawaiian Electric also noted that a Public Safety Power Shutoff program, if implemented, will have to be appropriate for each county and ensure public safety when power is shut off, potentially for multiple days.

No official cause of the Lahaina fire has been determined, though many law firms representing plaintiffs harmed by the fire have sued Hawaiian Electric, along with public and private landowners in some cases, alleging that gale-force winds toppled a power line that ignited dry brush on the ground and spread furiously through Lahaina town.

The fire caused an estimated $5.6 billion in damage.

Hawaiian Electric also said today that it has additional medium and long-term plans to reduce wildfire risks related to its operations, including many things that it has previously disclosed.