KOKE‘E — Six acres burned for roughly three hours yesterday as 18 firefighters and rescue personnel from the Hanapepe, Kapa‘a, Koloa and Lihu‘e fire stations and Pacific Missile Range Facility worked to put out the fire. Dispatch received the call
KOKE‘E — Six acres burned for roughly three hours yesterday as 18 firefighters and rescue personnel from the Hanapepe, Kapa‘a, Koloa and Lihu‘e fire stations and Pacific Missile Range Facility worked to put out the fire.
Dispatch received the call alerting them to the fire at 3:12 p.m., officials said.
The fire, which was on county-monitored property, was about three miles up Koke‘e Road, just past the horseshoe turn, according to Mary Daubert, county spokeswoman.
Heavy equipment operators worked to cut firebreaks to prevent its spread, and support from Inter-Island Helicopter’s Air-1 and Air-2 was given by water drops from a portable source carrying 2,500 gallons of water, needed in part because of a dwindling reservoir supply.
Emergency responders also used a J & R Welding and Equipment Rentals tanker and bulldozer, Daubert said.
Using a county tanker, the portable water source enabled Air-1 and Air-2 to fly a shorter distance to refill water buckets and return to fighting the fire.
Though air support left the scene at around 6:40 p.m., around the time the fire was deemed under control, other officials remained to extinguish hot spots.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
