Fire burns Waialua grassland
By William Cole
Advertiser Staff Writer
Curtains of fire pushed by kona winds burned at least 1,000 acres of grassland in the Waialua area yesterday, prompting the evacuation of several neighborhoods, and temporarily closing down North Shore access ways including Kamehameha Highway.
Photos by Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
About 60 firefighters from 14 Honolulu Fire Department companies, a dozen federal firefighters and the Air One helicopter fought the shifting fire from about 7:30 a.m. yesterday into the night.
A firefighter battles a brushfire that began near the University of Hawai'i's Poamoho Experimental Farm in Waialua and spread over a few miles. Several neighborhoods were evacuated and some roads were shut down.
Two-year-old Shayla Kamauoha and her mother, Shenrika Glasco, wait at the Weed Circle intersection as Civil Defense officials stop cars from entering Kaukonahua Road. Kamehameha Highway was temporarily closed.
The Army provided two Black Hawk helicopters with water buckets to help put out the brushfire that residents said is one of the worst they've seen in years.
"It's difficult because it's spread out over a few miles," HFD Capt. Kenison Tejada said yesterday afternoon. "So you think you have one area covered, and you do have it covered, and the fire is actually continuing somewhere else."
No homes were believed to be damaged, and fire crews were pulled out about 7 p.m. after the fire was contained, Tejada said.
On Tuesday night, firefighters fought a brushfire in a gulch near the University of Hawai'i's Poamoho Experimental Farm along Kaukonahua Road. Tejada said the fires may be related, and the cause is under investigation.
The fire yesterday afternoon burned through the gulch and to within a couple hundred feet of 40 homes on Hukilau Loop. A representative of Waialua Coffee, which has coffee plants off Kamehameha Highway, said he was told the fire started when someone set a car on fire in the gulch, but Tejada said, "We haven't confirmed that, so I'm not sure."
With the fire spreading and thick plumes of brownish smoke rising up to meet storm clouds that unfortunately for firefighters did not produce rain, officials closed Kaukonahua Road and Wilikina Drive access to the North Shore at about 10 a.m.
From about 5 until 6:30 p.m., Kamehameha Highway was closed with smoke obscuring the roadway.
Firefighters also asked for the voluntary evacuation of homes on Hukilau Loop and across Kaukonahua Road.
Tim Romero, who lives off Kaukonahua Road, said he first noticed the fire at a distance Tuesday night. He headed back home from work yesterday morning at about 10 a.m. when his wife called to say the fire was getting "a little serious."
"It (the fire) was less than 100 yards from our house, and we were on the rooftops, everybody, biting our nails," Romero said. "Neighbors were squirting down their roofs. I'm just thankful nobody's hurt and nobody lost their homes."
Honolulu firefighters on the Hukilau Loop side of Kaukonahua were keeping the fire in check in the afternoon, knocking down pockets of flame in the dry grass.
At the Weed Circle intersection with Kamehameha Highway, Civil Defense officials were stopping cars from entering Kaukonahua as more and more people heard about the fire and attempted to get home.
Michael Broms told officials he needed to check on his two dogs, but was not allowed to drive through, and had to wait with a dozen other motorists pulled off the side of the road. Broms said there are usually grass fires a couple of times a year in Waialua, but usually, trade winds push the flames toward the mountains, rather than toward Kamehameha Highway.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
"Usually the field back there will catch on fire and they'll come and put it out with a couple of trucks. But this is huge," Broms said. "Hale'iwa — when that caught on fire, that was a pretty big one. This one, all the way from Kaukonahua Road to Kam Highway is on fire."
Horses were rounded up and moved to safety as a fire burned in a gulch near the University of Hawai'i's Poamoho Experimental Farm.
Arson is suspected in the July brushfire that started in a "Y" crossing area below the Joseph P. Leong Highway, and crept close enough to North Shore Market Place to shut down 25 businesses.
By 2 p.m. yesterday, the all-clear was given for Broms and others to return to their homes. Behind Hukilau Loop, the fire had climbed to the rim of the gulch and within a couple hundred feet of homes.
Tejada said a fire crew would monitor Hukilau Loop "so in case there's anything that flames up in that area, they'll take care of it."
"The fire's been contained, but there's a blanket of smoke over Hale'iwa," Tejada said. "The people in Hale'iwa are going to be smelling smoke all night long."
About 21 people took advantage of a shelter set up by the Red Cross at Waialua District Park, but all had left by 2:30 p.m.
In Wahiawa, electrical power interruptions triggered by the brushfire caused 8,842 gallons of partially treated wastewater to be discharged into Lake Wilson.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
