A Friday night brush fire that broke out along a hillside mauka of Niumalu Road scorched 40 acres before it was put out and put under control, a Kaua‘i Fire Department official reported. By mid-day Saturday, 14 firefighters from Lihu‘e,
A Friday night brush fire that broke out along a hillside mauka of Niumalu Road scorched 40 acres before it was put out and put under control, a Kaua‘i Fire Department official reported.
By mid-day Saturday, 14 firefighters from Lihu‘e, Kalaheo and Waimea were combing the charred land for hot spots, ready to put them out to prevent a resurgence of the fire, according to Battalion Chief Teddy Williams.
“Everything looks okay (right now). It looks like we are going to be here all day,” he said.
The fire didn’t jump across the road and threaten the Garden Island Disposal recycling facility partly because dirt was heaped onto the edges of a field to prevent the fire from spreading, Williams said.
Williams said a man by the name of Ricky Wa‘alani used his own equipment to help contain the blaze.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by fire officials. It wasn’t known on Saturday who owns the charred land.
Several fire crews from Kalaheo and Lihu‘e, and possibly Waimea, were at the scene of the fire by 9:30 p.m. Friday, according to reports heard on a police scanner.
In an unrelated matter, a 60-year-old male visitor from Washington state broke his left leg on a hike to Kipu Falls before 9 a.m. Saturday and was later transported to safety by firefighters from the Lihu‘e fire station.
“He had a compound fracture of the left leg, He was hiking with his wife on the trail, and was climbing up a hill and slipped and fell,” he said.
Firefighters went to the area in response to a call for help made to the Kaua‘i Police Department dispatch office.
Four firefighters hiked to the area where the man had fallen, put him in a Stokes basket, and wheeled him back to the road, where he was tended to by American Medical Response personnel, Williams said.
The man, who was not identified, was taken by ambulance to Wilcox Hospital for treatment.
Williams said he didn’t think the injury was life-threatening.
