Wildfire workshop on tap
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — As former sugar land was being converted into eucalyptus forests for logging, the fear of runaway fires rose among residents along the Hamakua Coast.
It also worried state forestry official Wayne Ching, who attended a national wildfire workshop in Arizona in 2000. While there, he impulsively invited the group to come to the Big Island for its 2002 workshop.
More than 100 people nationwide and from as far away as Saipan and Australia are expected for a three-day "Firewise Communities Workshop" that starts Wednesday at the Hawai'i Naniloa Hotel in Hilo. Among the participants will be representatives of state agencies, all four county fire departments and a half dozen federal agencies including the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Large private land owners and planners also are expected.
An average of 13,000 acres annually have been destroyed in fires during the past 10 years in Hawai'i, Ching said.
On the Big Island, there were 230 brush and forest fires in 2001, according to Assistant Fire Chief Garfield Arakaki. A fire last November above Kona International Airport at Keahole blackened 1,200 acres, and 800 acres were burned in the same area in December.
The workshop is aimed at reducing the risk of fires that endanger not only rural homes but also rare plants and animals in Hawai'i.
Ching is bringing in the U.S. Forest Service, among others, to discuss everything from planting choices for shrubbery near homes to maintaining fire breaks around improved property.
Tactics for fighting runaway fires also will be discussed. Arakaki said large military helicopters, such as the Marine Chinooks deployed in a 1998 fire that caused the evacuation of hundreds of Puna residents, may not always be the best answer.
"They cannot pinpoint their water drops," he said.
Ching added that dropping 1,000 gallons of water a time near homes can damage property.
The workshop fee is $150, which includes meals and materials. The fees are being waived for American Red Cross workers and volunteer firefighters.For details, visit the Web site firewise.org /communities, or call Ching on O'ahu at 587-4173.
Reach Hugh Clark at hclark@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 935-3916.
