Crews contain Nanakuli fire
By Robbie Dingeman and Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writers
Police are looking into reports that two people were seen fleeing the area of a large brushfire in Nanakuli moments before it broke out yesterday.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
The fire scorched more than 150 acres before officials declared it contained at 6:36 p.m. Firefighters then were sent back to their stations, said Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Emmit Kane.
A Fire Department helicopter drops water on the ridge behind Haleakala Avenue in Nanakuli while firefighters battle the brushfire from the ground. The brushfire blackened more than 150 acres.
"It's not going anywhere," Kane said last night of the smoldering fire. "It's contained and won't be threatening or going anywhere. It's really in a remote area toward the back of Nanakuli Valley right now."
Kane said officials would monitor the fire throughout the night.
Earlier, Kane said a resident of Mokiawe Street told firefighters that two people, believed to be juveniles, had run out from the brush.
Kane said firefighters relayed the information to Honolulu police, who are working with HFD to determine the cause of the fire.
Kane said the fast-spreading fire started about 12:30 p.m. above Haleakala Avenue and Mokiawe Street, mauka of Farrington Highway.
He said that 55 firefighters were trying to control the blaze and that while the fire did come within the property line of about nine homes just above Mokiawe Street, the first crews on the scene were able to turn the flames back.
Kane said three helicopters — one from HFD, one from the state land department and a military helicopter — were dropping water on the flames in the Nanakuli Valley, and companies were responding from as far away as Manoa.
The blaze was visible from three nearby schools: Nanakuli Elementary, Nanakuli Intermediate and High, and Nanaikapono Elementary.
At about 2 p.m., Nanakuli Elementary Principal Wendy Takahashi said she and the schoolchildren could see smoke and flame from their classrooms. Teachers tried to calm pupils who were nervous to see the flames licking closer to their homes.
"It's pretty close to the buildings," Takahashi said. "Some of our students are upset because they live on that street."
She said a counselor was talking with children who live in the area closest to the fire, and she and other school officials were keeping an eye on schoolchildren with asthma.
Kane said no homes were in immediate danger.
Takahashi said the school wasn't directly affected by the fire.
"The wind is blowing mauka so it isn't coming toward us. We're just hoping it won't change," she said.
Takahashi said some children with asthma were affected by a smaller brushfire yesterday near the school.
"It's a perennial event, unfortunately," she said.
Advertiser staff writer Curtis Lum contributed to this report. Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.
