Copter fighting brushfires crashes

Advertiser Staff

A helicopter crashed yesterday on Moloka'i while helping firefighters battle a series of brushfires that appear to have been intentionally set.

The Windward Aviation helicopter with only the pilot aboard went down at 1:15 p.m. in a brush area in Maunaloa on the island's West End. Assistant Fire Chief Gordon Cordeiro said the pilot did not appear to have suffered life-threatening injuries. The pilot was treated at Moloka'i General Hospital and then transferred to Maui Memorial Medical Center.

Five separate brushfires were reported on Moloka'i's West End since Wednesday, and fire officials last night were checking a report of a sixth blaze in the Kaluako'i area. No homes, farms or other property were in danger of burning, Cordeiro said.

About 1,200 acres had burned by evening yesterday, with the largest of the fires blackening about 400-plus acres, he said. The first fire was reported at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Ho'olehua.

Cordeiro said conditions are dry and windy, and the fires are burning in areas inaccessible to fire trucks.

Between 15 to 20 county firefighters along with other county employees and Moloka'i Ranch crews were working to contain the fires using heavy equipment to make fire breaks, he said. Off-duty Moloka'i firefighters were called in to work and firefighters from Maui were flown over to assist.

At any given time two to three helicopters were dropping water onto the flames.

Cordeiro said Moloka'i was ripe for a brushfire because of the dry conditions. "It's ready to burn," he said.

The cause of the fires is not yet known, but Cordeiro said they are "very suspicious in nature."