. >> reporter: lahaina resident jennifer potter spent over four years as a commissioner on the hawaii the state agency that regulates the electrical utility. >> there's a tremendous amount of anger. what could we have possibly done differently? >> reporter: in the days before the fire, the hawaii emergency management agency issued a red flag warning of gusty winds and dry fuels creating a risk of extreme fire. >> we should have turned the power off to the west side, because we know that the infrastructure over here just was not capable of withstanding it, period. >> reporter: but hawaiian electric did not pre-emptively shut off the power. we found the company previously acknowledged the frailty of its electrical grid, saying in company documents after a 2018 hurricane that it was aware of the extreme vulnerability of its infrastructure and the escalating risk of wildfires and hurricanes. >> we saw that from pictures of these power poles breaking, snapping in half like toothpicks. >> reporter: company documents show that 2018 hurricane downed power lines on maui and brush fires ignited