After Kimberly Buen learned her elderly father was killed in the August fire that burned the historic Hawaiian town of Lahaina to the ground, she needed to know who was ultimately responsible. 

Buen diligently listened to news conferences about how the deadly fire sparked. She read about the highly flammable grasses that blanketed nearby property. Buen, who lives in Palmdale, Calif., also retained an attorney to prepare a wrongful-death lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric, Maui County, the state of Hawaii and Kamehameha Schools, a local landowner, who she said needed to be held accountable for their roles in the fire.