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Family files wrongful death suit against Emera Maine

A 'dangerously large' electrical surge sparked a double-fatal Bar Harbor fire in 2018 and could've been prevented, it claims, alleging one family member saw 'flames coming out of the sockets' when power was restored on April 22, 2018.

BAR HARBOR, Maine — A wrongful death lawsuit filed against Emera Maine accuses the utility company of negligence in a fire that engulfed a Bar Harbor farmhouse, burning it to its foundation and killing a mother and her son.

The lawsuit claims an electrical surge on April 22, 2018, caused the fire on Russell Farm Road and that Emera was aware of recent surges in the area, for which consumers' damages were compensated in nearby Otter Creek.

Killed in the fire were Erlene Harding, 79, and her son Leroy Harding, 57.

Erlene's husband, Percy, who was in his 80s, was seriously burned and was subsequently flown by LifeFlight to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Raymond, Leroy's brother and son of Percy and Erlene, was forced to jump from a window and suffered fractured vertebrae and neck injuries.

He filed the lawsuit along with family member Dale Harding, who represents the two killed in the fire and Percy, who died unrelated on Oct. 19, 2018.

In a statement, an Emera Maine spokesperson said, "We were saddened by news of the tragic fire in Bar Harbor last year. Emera Maine’s focus is always the safety of our customers and reliability of the electrical system, and we made ourselves available to support the State Fire Marshal’s Office investigation."

New substation is built

A study conducted by Emera in 2007 showed improvements were needed to its transmission and distribution of electricity on Mount Desert Island.

In 2016, the utility company began construction on a new substation in Bar Harbor, calling it the Acadia substation. It was first energized that November.

According to the lawsuit, Emera's MDI system included both high voltage transmission lines and lower voltage distribution lines — the latter to which supplied electricity directly to customers' homes, and transformers, which are intended to safely decrease force from the high to low voltages.

Issues arose shortly thereafter, the Hardings' attorney claims.

An Emera representative in September 2017 publicly acknowledged the company's need for additional investments in reliability to harden the system against storms and other factors. And in the several months leading up to April 2018, customers on MDI endured a large number of power outages due to but not limited to planned outages for work on the system.

Apparent electrical surges

According to the lawsuit, in early April 2018 there were three "dangerously large" electrical surges in the Mount Desert village of Otter Creek, the lower part of Bar Harbor's Main Street and a home on Russell Farm Road, also in Bar Harbor, where the plaintiffs and deceased lived.

The Otter Creek surge was so severe it caused reported damage to several homes' appliances, the lawsuit claims, and even "caused the electrical meters on several different homes in Otter Creek to be ripped off the home and projected some distance, due to the strength of the electrical surge."

It claims the surge was caused by human error as well as incorrect wiring with three transformers on the part of agents or employees at Emera.

The Hardings' attorney believes, based on information, that Emera paid money to compensate its costumers and resolve claims of property damage in Otter Creek, which is within but not a part of Acadia National Park.

The Main Street surge in Bar Harbor impacted about 370 costumers, according to the suit, and happened during a planned power outage.

The fire on Russell Farm Road

According to the lawsuit, a surge at 99 Russell Farm Rd. is believed to have caused a fire that completely destroyed the home.

Power supplied by Emera went out overnight from April 21-22. Fifteen homes in the area with electricity provided by Emera were later known to have also experienced outages during this time period.

When the power came back on at about 8 a.m. on April 22, Percy Harding said he was downstairs and heard a loud pop or boom sound. These sounds were apparently heard by neighbors in two other homes in the area.

Percy believed the sound came from the basement, and when he opened the door he was severely burned by heat and steam. Flames were already visible and coming from sockets on the house's first floor.

The Hardings' home phone was no longer working so Percy drove to a neighbor's home to call 911. When he returned, the entire house was engulfed in flames. He had to be "physically restrained" from re-entering.

Erlene and Leroy Harding were still inside.

Raymond Harding, one of Percy and Erlene's sons, was in a second-floor bedroom when the fire began, awoken by electronics activating due to the power coming back on. He said he opened his bedroom door and saw flames and thick black smoke filling the upstairs hallway. He said he saw his brother Leroy open his bedroom door, say "oh no, fire!" and close it. He also heard his mother from a nearby bedroom ask where the smoke was coming from.

Raymond then jumped from his second-floor window.

Firefighters were unable to rescue Erlene or Leroy. They both died of smoke inhalation, according to the state medical examiner.

No evidence of arson or lightning was found to have caused the fire, according to the lawsuit.

Allegations against Emera

The lawsuit includes 11 counts. The first three focus on negligence, counts four through 10 on death or suffering and the final on punitive damages.

In count No. 1, the Harding family claims Emera "knew or should have known there was a significant risk" a surge could've taken place at the home, based on recent and nearby surges. In the third, it claims Emera "failed to warn [the family] of the general risk of unreasonably large and dangerous surges …"

Counts four through 10 accuse Emera's conduct or inaction of being at least partially liable for Percy and Raymond's injuries and the pre-death pain and suffering and wrongful death of both Erlene and Leroy.

The Harding family claims in count No. 11 that Emera engaged in "deliberate and outrageous conduct by failing to adequately investigate and remedy the risk of a large and dangerous electrical surge … despite actual knowledge of and other large and dangerous surges … [and its] conduct, in failing to repair its systems' defective vulnerability to dangerous surge events, evidenced a reckless or wanton disregard for the rights and safety of the plaintiffs and … all other consumers … in the [MDI] area."

Lawsuit in full

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