In a recent lawsuit, Maui County officials claimed that if they had known about the widespread cellphone outages during the peak of last summer’s deadly wildfires, they would have used alternative methods to warn residents about the disaster. The county sent alerts to cellphones warning people to evacuate immediately, but these alerts were never received due to the outages, which the county was unaware of at the time.
Maui officials have faced criticism for failing to activate sirens that would have warned the entire population of the approaching flames. This has raised questions about whether everything possible was done to alert the public in a state that has an elaborate emergency warning system for various dangers, including wars, volcanoes, hurricanes, and wildfires.
In the lawsuit filed Wednesday in state court, Maui County accused major cellular carriers, including Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA, Spectrum Mobile, and AT&T, of negligence in failing to properly inform Maui police of the widespread service outages. T-Mobile responded to the allegations, stating that the claims are baseless and that they had broadcasted wireless emergency alerts to customers while sites remained operational, promptly sent required outage notifications, and quickly contacted state and local emergency agencies and services.
Since the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century devastated the historic town of Lahaina and claimed 101 lives, numerous lawsuits have been filed. Maui County is both a defendant in multiple lawsuits over its emergency response during the fires and a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Hawaiian Electric Company, alleging that the utility negligently failed to shut off power despite the exceptionally high winds and dry conditions.
In the county’s latest legal action, lawyers argue that if the county is found liable for damages, the cell carriers’ conduct substantially contributed to those damages. The lawsuit states that the county sent at least 14 alert messages to cellphones warning residents to evacuate, but later discovered that all 21 cell towers serving West Maui, including Lahaina, experienced total failure.
The county claims that the cell carriers have not yet reported the true extent and reach of the cell service outages on August 8 and 9, 2023, as required by federal law, and that if they had accurately reported the complete and widespread failure of dozens of cell sites across the island, the county would have utilized different methods in its disaster and warning response.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.