Parker Ranch sued over farmland wildfire

Fourteen Hawaiian homesteaders filed a lawsuit Thursday against Parker Ranch Inc. and its contractor seeking damages, which include $40 million just to replace topsoil on 500 acres of pastureland damaged by the massive 2021 Waimea fire — said to be the largest wildfire in state history.

The complaint filed in Hawaii Circuit Court alleges contractor K II K was cutting metal fencing material July 30, 2021, for Parker Ranch when the metal saw blade sparked a fire that eventually spread onto neighboring properties and developed into a 40,000-acre fire that took several days to extinguish.

The plaintiffs allege the contractor and Parker Ranch were negligent for the “inherently dangerous activity,” given that it was a dry and windy day, with gusts of up to 50 mph, and work was done without access to water or a fire extinguisher.

The complaint alleges the ranch and the contractor failed to contain or control the fire despite opportunities to do so. It also alleges Parker Ranch was vicariously liable for K II K’s acts, omissions negligence and recklessness.

One home was destroyed, another damaged, and residents suffer from respiratory ailments due to the fire and now dust that plagues their land, once lush with grass for the livestock that once grazed there.

Plaintiffs also lost miles of fencing, farming equipment and vehicles.

Rancher Jason Mattos, who is struggling to maintain his 100 head of cattle, broke down in tears during a news conference held by attorneys James Bickerton, Bridget Morgan-Bickerton and Peter Olson, who represent the 14 ranchers and farmers.

“Nobody knows what we went through up here,” said Mattos. He and wife, April Wana, lease a 200-acre parcel and sublease another 200-acre property used for their winter pastures. “Twenty years I spent. … We built that place.”

He said he has had to purchase feed and mineral supplements to maintain the cattle since he can no longer rely on the pastures scorched in the fire and has to keep them on his other pastureland.

He and the other plaintiffs were reluctant to sue Parker Ranch since some have family working for the ranch.

“I bought 70 cattle from Parker Ranch,” said Mattos. “I used to admire them but they never step up — nothing. We lost our income, place for put cattle, our family tradition.”

After 17 months the land remains barren and infertile because the fire burned with such intensity for a prolonged time that it allegedly destroyed not only the vegetation and the topsoil, but eroded the underlying structure of the soil and burned root systems, leaving it uninhabitable for livestock and unworkable for farming, the complaint alleges.

Plaintiffs’ experts say the soil can be healed, but remediation will cost $80,000 per acre to replace topsoil, Bickerton said.

When asked whether there is any precedence for soil remediation, Bickerton said it is unusual in Hawaii, which doesn’t have large-scale fires such as in California and Oregon.

He said Pacific Gas and Electric Co. was bankrupted by the fire damage caused by its operations there.

Soil remediation is more common in chemical spill cases but not as common in fire cases, he said.

Morgan Bickerton said, “We’re looking at losses far beyond soil. A lot of our clients have had to get jobs in Hilo, commute to Hilo now. They’ve lost income, their expected income. Their health is affected. There are a lot of losses and damages that have nothing to do with the soil.”

It is unclear whether the Hawaii Fire Department publicly announced an official determination of the cause of the fire, which trapped some residents who lived in remote mountain areas near Mana Road, and caused much destruction.

Hawaii County Fire Chief Kazuo Todd was at a convention Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

Olson said the fire report shows the K II K worker reported he was cutting metal T posts when the fire started, notified the Fire Department, then notified Parker Ranch. “Whether they (Parker Ranch) have resources to stop the fire, we believe they did.”

When asked whether the Fire Department attributes the cause of the entire 40,000-acre fire to the cutting of the fence material on Parker Ranch, Olson said it did.

Lifelong Waimea resident and plaintiff Nicole Kepano said in a written statement: “Even 17 months after the fire, we are living and dealing every day with its effects. We have no vegetation, trees or windbreaks to break up or filter the wind and dust. People in town can see those big dust storms up on the hill; we are directly in line of those storms.

”We are farmers, we are ranchers, and just like Parker Ranch, we are stewards of this land. The difference is, we are not wealthy people. We are regular people who poured our blood, sweat, tears, heart and soul into this land for our families and for this community.”

Parker Ranch did not return requests for comment. K II K declined comment.

Bickerton said, “Our clients have no desire to bankrupt Parker Ranch. We don’t think it’s going to take that much to resolve the case.”

He said his clients sought mediation, but Parker Ranch has failed to offer an apology and does not acknowledge damage to the soil. They want Parker Ranch “to step up and not pretend it’s just some fencing that got damaged.”