Maui sues cell carriers over wildfire warning alerts that were never received during service outages

Maui County is suing major cellular carriers for failing to properly inform police of widespread service outages during the height of last summer’s deadly wildfire. The county is suing Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile USA, Spectrum Mobile and AT&T. The county says it sent at least 14 alert messages to cellphones, warning residents to evacuate. But the county didn't know those messages weren't received because of cell tower failures across the island. The lawsuit says the county would have used other warning methods if the carriers reported the service outages as required by federal law.