Crews battle Pearl City brushfire
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
Fire crews yesterday prevented a brushfire from scaling a Pacific Palisades hillside in Pearl City and reaching several homes.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Seven units responded to the fire in Pacific Palisades that began at 11:15 a.m. off Amokemoke Street in a gulch area, according to Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Kenison Tejada.
Kekoa Pascua sprays water on brush behind his neighbor's house in Palisades as a fire burns about 150 yards below.
The brushfire got within 75 to 100 feet of several single-family homes on the ridge, but the neighborhood was never in any immediate danger, and no one was evacuated, according to Tejada.
Crews went through several back yards to reach the fire, while residents used garden hoses to wet down their roofs.
Fire officials called the blaze under control at 12:53 p.m., with crews extinguishing hotspots throughout the afternoon.
Tejada said about 25 firefighters, five engine trucks and HPD's Air One helicopterÊwere called in to battle the fire, which scorched about five acres.
Brushfires have been reported periodically in the Waimano Stream gulch area between Waimano Home Road near Pearl City High School and the Pacific Palisades subdivision, although Tejada said he could not recall the last brushfire in that particular area.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.
Crews responded to another brushfire yesterday behind Makaha Elementary along Ala Na'auao Place at 11:16 a.m. Two fire units brought it under control at 11:27 a.m, Tejada said.
Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 535-8110.
