Big Island fire forces shutdown of road

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Four crews of Mainland firefighters will arrive in Hilo this morning to help Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park rangers fight a wildfire sparked by lava and intensified by hot, dry weather.

Park Ranger Mardie Lane said smoke and dangerous conditions yesterday caused the closing of Chain of Craters Road at Pauahi Crater, which is four miles down the mountain from Crater Rim Drive.

The fire, which has now consumed 2,580 acres on the east ridge, burned to within a half-mile of Chain of Craters Road at the 11-mile marker, an area known as the hairpin curve, Lane said.

All east rift trails, including Napau, Na Ulu and Kalapana, are closed.

Two of the Mainland "hotshot" crews, one from the National Park Service and one with the U.S. Forest Service, are en route from Arizona, Lane said.

Two other crews, both with the Forest Service, will arrive from California.

The 80 specially trained, full-time federal firefighters will assist Big Island rangers who have been battling the fire in Volcanoes National Park for 16 days.

The fire burned 880 acres of park land in the first several days after it was ignited by flowing lava from Kilauea on May 18.

Big Island rangers trained in firefighting techniques, assisted by light rains and high humidity during the first week, brought the fire under control and kept it at bay until Friday.

But, as the weather grew hotter and drier, the fire became more difficult to control.

It flared on Friday, and burned more than 1,700 acres within 24 hours.

Fifty firefighters worked to bring it back under control Saturday, assisted by six helicopters dropping foam and water on the fire's perimeter.

The rangers purposely burned out an area near Pulama Pali to prevent the blaze from spreading to native rain forest areas.

The fire has been burning through areas thick with low-level ferns and tall 'ohi'a trees, Lane said.