A brushfire south of the Kaiminani Drive area was burning out of control Fourth of July afternoon, threatening homes in the Kona Acres and Wainani Estates subdivisions.
A brushfire south of the Kaiminani Drive area was burning out of control Fourth of July afternoon, threatening homes in the Kona Acres and Wainani Estates subdivisions.
The blaze started just past noon near Kapuahi Street and rapidly spread mauka, forcing residents along Wainani Street to battle flames back from the edges of yards with garden hoses. Firefighters were using water trucks and helicopters to soak vegetation and working to contain the head of the fire around 5:30 p.m. in a brushy area south of the intersection of Amaama and Kuakapu streets before it could reach Kona Acres.
The fire had burned about 75 acres and was breaking out to the south and west at sunset. Firefighters were set to bring in two D-9 bulldozers to create firebreaks during the night along the south edge of Wainani Estates, Battalion Chief Joseph Farias said. Firebreaks would also be placed on the south side of the blaze, but the priority was to isolate remaining fuel along the edge of Wainani Estates, Farias said.
“The problem we are having now is we have extended our hoses as far as they can go, and the fire is burning beyond the length of our hoses,” Farias said at dusk.
Two helicopters and ground crews with hoses concentrated efforts on the mauka edge of the fire just below Kona Estates, an effort that appeared to help keep the fire from entering the subdivision. Instead, the blaze spread slowly to the south as night fell.
Kona Acres residents Terry Leland and Travis Nelson were moving hoses into an orchard area as the fire moved toward the bottom of the subdivision around 6:30 p.m. Saturday evening.
“I will keep going down there and moving that hose, but if it gets bad, I’m out of here,” Nelson said.
Hawaii County Police were advising residents they might have to evacuate and were urging them to soak down their property. While some residents left to escape smoke, no actual evacuation occurred, Fairas said. The cause of the fire has not been determined.
Instead of enjoying the holiday, homeowners spent the afternoon inhaling smoke, soaking yards and roofs and keeping an eye on the fire as it moved mauka through open brush, leaving smoldering areas. Some residents reported packing photo albums and other personal belongings in their cars, preparing to leave if necessary.
Workers building a Wainani Street house for Neil Vieth used a Bobcat to cut a fire line and manned the south edge of the property with buckets and garden hoses.
“It came up fast. Our workers couldn’t keep up with it,” Vieth said.
At one point the smoke from the blaze became very thick with a wind shift, resident Robert Ferguson said.
“As the fire went up the back wall, guys were saving houses one by one,” Ferguson said. “It was the whole community here.”