KEKAHA — The wildfire that burned roughly 3,000 acres in Koke‘e over the weekend and attracted many spectators in Kekaha Town has been 70 percent contained, according to county officials. But both access roads to Koke‘e State Park remained closed
KEKAHA — The wildfire that burned roughly 3,000 acres in Koke‘e over the weekend and attracted many spectators in Kekaha Town has been 70 percent contained, according to county officials. But both access roads to Koke‘e State Park remained closed Monday — and there is still no power to the area.
“It doesn’t look like power will be restored today; there are a large number of poles that have to be replaced before we can restore power,” Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative public affairs specialist Shelley Paik said Monday.
The wildfire resulted in the loss of 11 power poles — the most claimed by a single fire in at least 10 years — and radio and fiber optic cables, according to Paik.
The fire affected about 130 KIUC customers, who may have to wait until Wednesday to have their power restored, according to a KIUC press release Monday evening.
Paik said KIUC cut service to the affected area before the fire reached the power lines.
“The fire was getting close to a lot of our structures and so we decided to cut power to the Koke‘e area,” she said.
Paik said KIUC crews would be at the site at daybreak today to continue working on restoring power to Koke‘e.
On Monday, only authorized personnel were going through Koke‘e access roads: Waimea Canyon Drive and Koke‘e Road.
A large area that the fire had burned could be seen from the bottom of Koke‘e Road. It appeared that the fire was mostly under control, at least from Kekaha’s viewpoint.
Down at the bottom of Koke‘e Road, however, state Department of Land and Natural Resources staff and Kaua‘i Fire Department personnel were still busy. A helicopter was also busy, doing water drops in Koke‘e.
County spokeswoman Sarah Blane said in a press release Monday evening that roughly 50 personnel from KFD and DLNR were on scene Monday with the assistance of additional equipment provided by multiple private contractors, including a helicopter, four water tenders, five bulldozers and two excavators.
“Four fighters will remain on site throughout tonight to monitor the fire and mitigate any potential flare-ups,” she said in the release, adding that KFD crews will continue to assist DLNR as needed today.
Additionally, a water conservation notice for Kekaha remains in effect until further notice.
Down in Kekaha, a few businesses were able to turn a negative situation into a lucrative one.
Several unaware visitors and residents trying to get to Koke‘e through Koke‘e Road in Kekaha had to turn around after seeing the road closed.
As a result, many of them shopped at the small shopping complex at the bottom of the road.
Waimea Canyon General Store is usually closed on Sunday, according to Margaret Green, who has worked there for at least 10 years.
She said the owner decided to keep the store opened the entire weekend, because Friday and Saturday the store was a lot busier than it had been the entire summer.
On Friday evening, there wasn’t a single spot to park in the shopping complex, Green said, adding that many people brought beach chairs and sat on the grass area near the shopping complex just to watch Koke‘e burning.
Some of the visitors got really upset, Green said, but a little light humor from the store’s owner was able to turn their mood around.
The adjacent Cool Comfort, an ice cream and shave ice store, was also busy in hot and sunny Kekaha, serving thirsty visitors and locals all day.
It was the same at Menehune Food Mart.
The staff there said there were a lot of people buying beverages and food.
In the grassy area where many folks had spent hours watching the fire over the weekend, a couple students on Monday decided to turn the wildfire into a school project.
Riley Gokan and Lindsey Nakea-Tressler, seventh-graders from Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School in Puhi, were shooting video, hoping for footage on a project to assess the fire’s consequences to invasive and Native Hawaiian plants.
“Right now we think it’s helping the invasive species, because we think invasive species grow faster than native species,” said Nakea-Tressler.
She explained that she came to this conclusion because in the last wildfire in Koke‘e, the invasive plants came back faster than the native ones.
Gokan’s brother, Wilcox Elementary School third-grader Kai Gokan, was tagging along on the field trip chaperoned by their mother.
