H-2 Freeway was fully reopened at 4:55 p.m.

No homes were threatened. But gusty winds sent embers and ash wafting among houses near Moaniani Street, reminding residents of a huge brushfire in the gulch in 2000 that burned 300 acres and threatened homes and businesses.

"I was worried it would jump across the road," said Sam Kuboyama, who lives on Pokeo Street. He said that when he smelled the fire yesterday, he closed the windows and cranked up the air conditioner. "Good thing for the AC or else the house would be smelly. It really helps."

Firefighters were sent into the neighborhood to make sure embers did not spark a house fire, Fire Battalion Chief Thomas Perkins said.

The fire began about noon near Mililani Memorial Park Road and by 12:30 p.m. the winds had fanned it into a fast-moving blaze, moving toward Pearl City. Flames reached higher than 20 feet, crackling like the sound of many potato-chip bags being crumpled at once.

The smoke was so thick near the Ka Uka Boulevard off-ramp that firefighters could barely see 30 feet in front of them.

"The wind was a major factor in the fire," Perkins said. "It was shifting back and forth. The terrain made it hard to get to."

The Fire Department used nine engine companies, three tankers, its Air One helicopter and a helicopter tender to fight the fire.

Firefighters plan their next move to fight a brushfire in Panakauahi Gulch along the H-2 Freeway. The smoke was so thick near the Ka Uka Boulevard off-ramp that firefighters could barely see 30 feet. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

Lina Mercado, owner of Lina B. Flowers, a Chinatown florist, was on her way to make a delivery at the memorial park when she was turned around. She and her assistants were forced to wait for several hours in the Costco parking lot, hoping the red roses in their bouquet wouldn't wilt. They waited to see if the cemetery would reopen.

"It was very smoky before," said Leo Dela Cruz, one of Mercado's assistants. "We've been sitting here for several hours waiting. The family doesn't even know that the cemetery is closed. They're on their way."

With the H-2 Freeway closed, Kamehameha Highway turned into a parking lot, as did H-1 through Pearl City.

In a neighborhood near Costco and the Tony Group Autoplex, a row of homes was coated with dust and black ash. Residents said this brushfire wasn't nearly as bad as the 2000 inferno.

"It made the sunlight discolored," said Devera, 20.

Hawaiian Electric worker Chad Oshiro was monitoring the fire from an area near the Ka Uka Boulevard off-ramp. He said he hoped fire would not destroy any of the company's utility poles that run through Panakauahi Gulch. He said the poles are treated with a fire-retardant chemical.

"If those ones go," he said pointing to two 40,000-volt towers peeking out from a grove of tall trees in front of the fire's advancing line, "we've got a problem." But HECO reported no service interruptions because of the fire.