Associated Press
Drought, a lack of preparation, poor communication — a handful of reports from research organizations and government agencies have detailed some of what went wrong when a catastrophic wildfire burned through the historic Maui town of Lahaina last year, killing 102 people. Now a new report from the Maui Fire Department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives attempts to answer perhaps the biggest question of all: Exactly where and how did the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire — the deadliest in the U.S. in over a century — begin? The Maui Fire Department’s Cause and Origin report, with a summary of the ATF investigation’s findings included as an appendix, was released Wednesday.