Posted on: Sunday, July 28, 2002

Firefighters back in valley after hot spot flares up

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

More than a dozen Honolulu firefighters returned to Wai'anae Valley yesterday afternoon to contain a brushfire that flared up again after burning as many as 1,500 acres earlier in the week.

Fourteen firefighters, including those in the Honolulu Fire Department's Air 1 helicopter, worked for three hours to control a hot spot at the end of Wai'anae Valley Road.

Capt. Richard Soo, spokesman for the Fire Department, said: "This wasn't that big a surprise. You can never fully extinguish a large brushfire like this. There will always be hot spots. You can only contain them."

Soo said the perimeters of the fire were not spreading. He said there's a possibility that firefighters might have to return again today as other hot spots flare up.

"The crucial time was last Wednesday night and all day Thursday," Soo said.

The fire started Wednesday. On Thursday, more than 70 firefighters stopped the raging brushfire just short of farms and homes and a forest preserve of native flora.

Estimates of the burned area were difficult to come by because of the steep terrain, but officials thought as many as 1,500 acres were scorched. It was the biggest valley blaze Soo could recall.