(NewsNation) — A new lawsuit filed in the wake of the deadly Maui wildfires blames a private landowner, along with the state of Hawaii, for the death of a 57-year-old woman.
The wrongful death suit alleges Kamehameha Schools, a trust formerly known as Bishop Estate, which is the state’s largest private landowner, failed to control dry grass and brush on its property even though it knew there was a fire hazard. Rebecca Rans and her boyfriend died in the Aug. 8 wildfire as they ran for their lives.
Jim Bickerton, co-counsel representing Rans’ family, said Wednesday on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” it didn’t come as a surprise the deadly inferno spraed through tall, dry grasses — relics of sugar plantations that ceased operations two decades ago.
“I’ve lived here since I was a child, and the cases that we already have involved this very same risk,” Bickerton said. “I’ve watched those sugar cane fields over the years turn fallow, and they’ve allowed these invasive grasses to grow there that are highly, highly flammable, and they dry out every summer.”
The wildfire killed at least 115 people and destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, mostly in the historic neighborhood of Lahaina. Hawaiian Electric Company has been sued by plaintiffs who allege the utility company failed to shut off power preemptively despite exceptionally high winds and dry conditions and briefly recharged the lines in parts of Lahaina.
Hawaiian Electric has acknowledged its power lines started a fire on the morning of Aug. 8, but faulted county firefighters for declaring the blaze contained and then leaving the scene, only to have a second wildfire break out nearby and become the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century.
“Contained isn’t the same as extinguished,” Bickerton said in response to Hawaiian Electric’s defense. “It was the same fires, the same flame. We’re all familiar with our charcoals at the beach, and we think they’re out. We just look at those ashes, and then a gust of wind comes along or a little child blows on it, and that ember pops up bright red again.”
Bickerton said the same scenario existed in 2018, when a 2,100-acre fire burned in the Lahaina area. After that fire, community organizers pointed out the risks posed by the nonnative vegetation, the Washington Post reported.
“Everyone was warned,” Bickerton said. “It’s a question we think of just inertia, and people just not thinking it can happen because it didn’t happen the last time.”
His lawsuit alleges that the county and the Bishop Estate failed to maintain their land by mowing or otherwise removing the dry, invasive grasses that have taken over former plantations.
“Our hearts are with all affected by the Maui fires,” Kamehameha Schools said in a written statement. “We are committed to restoring our Native Hawaiian people and culture through education, which includes stewarding and uplifting the health and resiliency of our ’āina (lands) and Native communities. As many aspects of the fires are still under investigation, we have no further comment at this time.”
Lahaina has deep significance in Hawaiian history as the one-time capital of the former Hawaiian kingdom and as the home to high-ranking chiefs for centuries.
Half the town’s 12,000 residents are now living in hotels and short-term vacation rentals. The Environmental Protection Agency is leading an effort to clean hazardous waste left in a burn zone stretching across some five square miles.
Reconstruction is expected to take years and cost billions.
Bickerton is worried that reconstruction work could be interrupted if nothing is done to mitigate fire risk.
“Even all around Lahaina the fire did not get to certain areas,” he said. “There’s still large fields of this grass and if we get another hurricane or another strong wind event during the dry season, we could see another fire of this magnitude.”
NewsNation producer Darcy Bonfils and The Associated Press contributed to this report.