A long-awaited report concluded that the deadly 2023 fire that killed at least 102 people and razed much of historic Lahaina was actually caused by a smaller blaze that firefighters believed they had fully extinguished that morning.

HONOLULU (AP) — 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.

The wildfire that killed at least 102 people on Maui last year erupted from an earlier brushfire caused by downed power lines that firefighters believed they had extinguished, officials confirmed, Wednesday as they presented their findings on the cause of the tragedy.

The report said that authorities found the incident involved one fire with a “morning phase and afternoon phase"