The deadliest US wildfire in more than a century "was not only predictable, it was predicted" by Hawaiian Electric and "anyone else who bothered to look into the issue," says Mikel Watts, the lead attorney in a lawsuit filed against the company Wednesday. The lawsuit accuses the company, which provides electricity to around 95% of Hawaiians, of failing to take steps to prevent wildfires despite outlining the risks in its own documents, NBC News reports. "They were grossly negligent by making conscious decisions to delay grid modernization projects that would have prevented this very tragedy," Watts says of the Maui wildfire. The death toll from the disaster now stands at 111 and is expected to keep rising. More:
- Videos suggest power lines caused fire. Videos filmed by residents suggest that fallen utility lines caused the blaze that destroyed the Maui town of Lahaina, the AP reports. Shane Treu, who livestreamed his attempt to fight the fire, says it was "almost like somebody lit a firework" when a power pole snapped in high winds and the sparking line ignited dry grass.