The fire that began Sunday morning was still burning at several locations today, said Lanny Nakano, county assistant civil defense administrator.

But the blaze was contained last night when three bulldozers finished carving away a fire break.

The fire began near the intersection of Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway and Kawaihae Road. Two subdivisions had to be briefly evacuated Sunday. The highway was closed to traffic from Kawaihae Road to Waikaloa Road from 10:40 p.m. Sunday to 10:30 a.m. yesterday, Nakano said.

"There are still a lot of flare-ups along Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway from the telephone exchange to the Kawaihae Road junction area," Nakano said this morning. "There's also one large spot just north of the power line road. They have a large pile of rubbish and debris, trees, piled up, and that is burning."

Crews also were fighting a hot spot today in a ravine below Waiula Drive near the Ouli Mutual self-help housing project, Nakano said.

Winds today had dropped to 10 mph, lighter than the 15 to 20 mph winds that pushed flames yesterday, Nakano said.

"Yesterday it was pretty hectic," he said.

On Sunday, about 50 homes in the Ouli Mutual self-help housing project were evacuated from 1 to 6:30 p.m., officials said.

Another 16 homes in the Uplands at Maunakea community were evacuated from 8:30 p.m. Sunday until yesterday morning.

Officials said the fire is feeding on fountain grass, an invasive weed that thrives after previous brushfires burn large areas of native vegetation.

As of 6 p.m. yesterday, the fire had not damaged any structures or disrupted electrical or telephone service, Nakano said.

"Residents and tourists are being advised to be on alert for smoke and fire hazard," he said.

Firefighters have not determined how the fire started.

"But it appeared to have started along the side of the highway, and 80 percent of the time we have a roadside fire in South Kohala, it's the result of a discarded cigarette or fireworks, or in some cases, a hot catalytic converter on a car or a truck," said Big Island Fire Chief Darryl Oliveira.