Rebecca Rans, inset, over a photo of a person with a face covering visiting a residential area devastated by a recent wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong/Rans’ photo courtesy of her sister Kathleen Hennricks)
The father of a woman who died in last month’s deadly inferno in Hawaii has filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging gross negligence led to her tragic and sudden death when she tried to escape the fires that killed more than 100 people and left hundreds more unaccounted for.
The father of 57-year-old Rebecca Rans filed the complaint Tuesday in the Second Circuit Court of Hawaii. It alleges Maui County, the state of Hawaii, the electric utility and a large landowner caused the fire that led to Rans’ death.
“We are absolutely devastated,” said the victim’s sister, Kathleen Hennricks, in a news conference. “And this is something that, in the beginning, we were wanting to find her, searching for her, hoping and praying that she was OK—then, finding out that she passed. And that has developed into frustration and anger over feeling like this is something that could have been avoided. This is something that my sister would want. This is something that she would do for any of us. And so, you know, we’re here to get answers.”
The family’s lawyers said in a news release that the civil action addresses what they say was the county’s failed emergency response to fires that ravaged Lahaina, leaving at least 115 people dead. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said on Sunday that more than 385 people were unaccounted for.
“Rebecca Rans’ death is all the more tragic because of how preventable it was,” said James Bickerton, founding partner of Bickerton Law Group, in a statement. “As someone who has spent nearly my entire life in Hawai’i, I have witnessed firsthand how the Island of Maui has been taken over by invasive, nonnative and flammable grasses and brush vegetation. The combination of weather, uncontrolled vegetation and decaying and neglected electrical infrastructure predictably created a tinderbox ready to explode in Maui. The risk was not theoretical — it was visible, palpable and entirely avoidable.”
Media representatives for Maui County and the utility didn’t immediately respond to emails from Law&Crime seeking comment.
In a statement, the Hawaii Department of the Attorney General said the agency was just served with the complaint on Tuesday, and officials were in the process of reviewing it.
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In an update from Hawaiian Electric last week, the agency said the fire appears to have been caused by power lines that fell in high winds. The utility said the Maui County Fire Department reported the blaze was “100% contained,” left the scene, and later declared it had been “extinguished.” But then, at about 3 that same day, when all Hawaiian Electric’s power lines in West Maui had been de-energized for more than six hours, a second fire began in the same area, the utility said. Its cause was not known, the statement said.
After hearing about the fires, Rans’ family on the mainland grew deeply concerned for her safety. Rans had severe rheumatoid arthritis and could only walk short distances, the family’s lawyers said. Her father worried his daughter’s life was in peril.
On Aug. 11, Rans’ sister filled out a missing persons report. An officer told her the FBI would reach out to collect DNA samples. Then, on Aug. 19, the family received the devastating news when the FBI knocked on Hennricks’ door. Her sister was dead. She suffered an excruciating death, the FBI said, according to the lawyers. The coroner recommended the family not view her badly burned remains found a few blocks from her house beside her live-in boyfriend of 12 years.
“Her left slipper was on, and it was clear she perished trying desperately to escape the Lahaina Fire, which had already engulfed her home,” court documents said.
The lawsuit seeks an amount to be determined in a trial for past medical care, funeral expenses, compensation for physical pain and discomfort and compensation for fright, nervousness, anxiety, worry, apprehension, loss of society, companionship, comfort and other damages.
“There is no amount of money that’s going to replace my sister,” Hennricks said. “There’s no amount of money that’s going to replace her as a mother to her children or as a daughter to my dad. We can’t replace her. What we’ve lost is absolutely just unfathomable.”
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