Emergency responders worked into the night to extinguish a fire that, in four hours, had engulfed hundreds of acres of property belonging to the Department of Hawaiian Homelands near Wailua. The 140-acre brush fire began around 4:30 p.m., and was
Emergency responders worked into the night to extinguish a fire that, in four hours, had engulfed hundreds of acres of property belonging to the Department of Hawaiian Homelands near Wailua.
The 140-acre brush fire began around 4:30 p.m., and was the fourth blaze that firefighters had to contend with yesterday.
The Kaua‘i Fire Department and other emergency responders also had gotten calls for fires in Hanapepe, Hanalei and Lihu‘e.
The Wailua fire began roughly a 1/4 mile from the 40 acres of scorched brush that caught on fire June 20 between Leho Drive and Kuhio Highway.
Witnesses said flames of yesterday’s Wailua blaze were as tall as 15 feet at around 5:30 p.m., when the fire began to split into two directions.
Around 6:40 p.m., Mary Daubert, county spokeswoman, said the fire was spreading rapidly up the mountainside.
By 8:30 p.m., the fire was unreachable to emergency responders, she said. Firefighters stopped fighting the fire around that time. However, emergency responders still remained to cut down fire breaks with bulldozers.
In all, four brush fire trucks and three fire engines from the Kaua‘i Fire Department and two water tankers from Public Works Department were used by emergency responders, as well as Inter-Island Helicopter’s Air-1 and Air-7. The aircraft arrived around 6 p.m. and continued to make water drops as night fell, Daubert said.
Twenty-two firefighters and six Public Works employees manned the operation, Daubert said.
At press time, the cause of the Wailua fire was unknown, but would likely be investigated, Daubert said.
Three other, smaller brush fires occurred earlier in the day, the first of which took began around 11:45 a.m. in Hanapepe, near the town’s Thrifty Mart.
Three Hanapepe firefighters and eight Gay & Robinson employees worked together to successfully extinguish that blaze by 1:30 p.m.
Yesterday’s second fire took place near Haleko Road in Lihu‘e, on the side of the road and was put out by a passer-by, Daubert said.
“That one was very small — about the size of a 20-quart cooler,” she said. “It was called in at 12:01 p.m. and by 12:06 p.m., it was fully extinguished.”
The third blaze took place in Hanalei behind a residence near Hanalei Plantation Road bordering Hanalei River, and engulfed roughly 1.5 to 2 acres after a resident burning plants lost control of the fire.
The call for that fire came through at 12:14 p.m. and was contained by 12:55 p.m., Daubert said. It was fully extinguished by 1:51 p.m.
With the Fourth of July around the corner and a unusually dry season so far, Daubert said the county is hoping the public will keep fire danger in mind.
“Please be cognizant that it is dry,” she said.
“If doing fireworks, they should follow instructions. …When doing backyard burning, make sure it is on a burn day by calling the Department of Health.”
Residents also should remember not to burn more than 25 pounds of rubbish at a time, and to be at least 25 feet away from all structures, but still close to a water source, she said.
Backyard burning is only permitted from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., she added.
Other islands had their share of fires as well: 600 acres burned yesterday on the Big Island and a brush fire broke out in Pearl City, O‘ahu. Also yesterday, a three-day Maui brush fire that had engulfed roughly 2,600 acres was 100 percent contained, according to county Web sites.
• Amanda C. Gregg, assistant editor/staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or agregg@kauaipubco.com.
