Teenager blamed for fire at Kalaeloa
By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer
A teenage boy turned himself in to police yesterday, saying he was playing with fireworks that inadvertently started a brushfire in Kalaeloa, an official said.
The fire scorched nearly 50 acres in the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station before being declared contained at 7:35 p.m., Fire Department Capt. Emmit Kane said. No homes were threatened.
Firefighters also were sent to a flare-up of last week's Nanakuli Valley brushfire.
Kane said a boy in his late teens turned himself in at the Kapolei police substation shortly after 4:30 p.m.
The boy said he was playing with jumping-jack type fireworks, one of which got away from him and landed in brush, Kane said. The blaze is being called accidental for now, Kane said.
Police released the boy, and said because the fire was on federal property, the case would be turned over to federal officials.
The fire broke out at 3:51 p.m. on the makai side of the intersection of Corregidor Street and Franklin D. Roosevelt Avenue.
More than 70 firefighters from 14 HFD companies and at least three federal units fought the fire.
The fire came within a quarter-mile of homes, and the smoke, which was billowing out to sea, forced the evacuation of more than 120 people from White Plains and Nimitz beaches.
Police officers and federal officers with the Department of Defense aided in the evacuation.
Kane said the fire came close to storage facilities, prompting some anxious moments. "We were concerned about what was stored," Kane said.
Kane said the Nanakuli fire that scorched more than 3,000 acres last week flared up yesterday afternoon in an isolated area near the top of a ridge at the back of Nanakuli Valley.
He said the fire was burning at a high elevation and was inaccessible to firefighters. HFD's Air One helicopter dropped water on the fire until nightfall.
Kane said four firefighters would monitor the blaze throughout the night, and that HFD would resume airdrops this morning.
"It isn't contained, it's up in the high altitude where it tends to be greener," Kane said. "But it's still problematic."
On Thursday, a 13-year-old boy surrendered to police following the weeklong Nanakuli Valley brushfire. The Nanakuli Intermediate School student was arrested on suspicion of second-degree criminal property damage.
Advertiser staff writer Curtis Lum contributed to this report. Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8110.
