Hawaiian Sugar offers reward for arson tips

Advertiser Staff

PU'UNENE, Maui — Hawai'i's largest sugar plantation yesterday posted a cash reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of those responsible for maliciously setting fires in its cane fields.

"These fires have gone beyond nuisance, beyond a costly inconvenience. They are a danger to firefighters, homeowners, businesses and nonprofit organizations alike," said Stephen Holaday, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. general manager.

A Maui Police Department task force has been created to take a closer look at the series of suspiciously set cane fires that began last summer.

Company officials said seven major arson fires and more minor ones had torched almost 860 acres of sugar cane, disrupting the farm's harvesting operations and causing losses in excess of $500,000.

Anyone with information on an unscheduled fire Aug. 6, when 420 acres of cane were burned and afternoon rush-hour traffic on Haleakala Highway was stopped, or any other unscheduled cane fires, is asked to call the HC&S Reward Program at (808) 244-7572. Modeled after the CrimeStoppers program, the 24-hour hot line offers anonymity to callers.

"We want the fires to stop," Holaday said. "Arson is a crime, but it would be a real tragedy if someone got hurt."

HC&S, a division of Alexander & Baldwin Inc. in Honolulu, cultivates more than 37,000 acres in Maui's central valley to produce 80 percent of the state's raw sugar.