Fire burns 300 acres near Camp Erdman
By Curtis Lum and Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writers
A wind-swept fire burned about 300 acres of brush in Mokule'ia last night, just minutes after firefighters contained a brush fire on the Leeward side of Ka'ena Point.
Fire spokesman Capt. Emmit Kane said the fires were not related.
Last night's fire was reported at 6:26 near Camp Erdman in Mokule'ia. Strong winds and ample brush fueled the fire, but caused no property damage, Kane said.
Firefighters contained the fire last night, but remained at the scene to keep watch, he said.
At one point, firefighters believed a man was trapped by the fire. But Kane said firefighters found the 30-year-old man and escorted him and his dog to safety.
Meanwhile, another wind-driven brush fire that began late Tuesday night near Ka'ena Point burned about 155 acres, including a habitat for endangered plants.
By mid-morning, eight Honolulu Fire Department and at least three military companies were battling the blaze on the Keawa'ula Bay side, where a brush fire burned 1,500 acres last weekend and threatened an Air Force satellite facility before being extinguished.
Four additional HFD units were battling the fire on the Mokule'ia side. Kane said the blaze started when a 22-passenger van stuck in a off-road brush area caught fire at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Patrick Costales, state Forestry and Wildlife manager for the O'ahu district, said the fire scorched 150 acres of critical plant habitat in and around the Kuaokala game management area on the Mokule'ia side. Many of the plants are endangered species, he said.
Brent Liesemeyer of state Forestry and Wildlife said ko'oloa'ulu, a dry-land coastal shrub, is among the endangered plants growing in the Mokule'ia fire area. Other shrubs that may be affected are the 'ohia and 'akoko, Liesemeyer said.
"What it does is also burn over (land) cover," Costales said. "When the first rain comes, it'll wash all the residue down into the ocean. It doesn't help the environment."
Yesterday's fire also may have affected an albatross nesting site on a ridge on the Keawa'ula, or Yokohama Bay, side of the Kuaokala game management area.
