As school lets out and the annual wave of intentionally set brushfires begins to sweep across the dry summer grasslands of West O'ahu, law enforcement officials may have new tools to help bring the firebugs to justice.

Two bills pertaining to fire prosecutions are awaiting review and signature by Gov. Linda Lingle, who has until July 11 to sign them into law.

One establishes Hawai'i's first arson law, and the other outlines specific penalties for those who set brushfires that burn 10,000 square feet or more.

Penalties include community service and, if approved by the governor, could require either the arsonist or, in the case of underage firestarters, the parents to pay the costs of fighting the fires. There also could be jail time and fines.

"I hope those laws go into force," said Charlene "Ipo" Flint, a 45-year-old lifelong resident of Nanakuli who says she has grown tired of watching friends and relatives struggle with asthma and other health concerns while wondering each day whether their homes will still be standing by nightfall.

"Maybe if we have something in place, they will catch them and something will happen," she said. "It seems like nothing ever does."

Flint said brushfires in her neighborhood, near Nanakuli High and Intermediate School, are set "every year — every single year."

"I think they do it just to see them burn," she said.

Occasionally, a youngster is arrested in connection with the fires, she said, but the suspected firebug is then released and seemingly never faces consequences.

Police made a record seven brushfire arrests last summer.

However, there also was a record number of brushfires, with nearly 950 burning across O'ahu. Of those, 85 percent were on the Wai'anae Coast, said Battalion Chief Lloyd D. Rogers of the Honolulu Fire Department's Fire Prevention Bureau.

Officials say the heavy rain this year that caused flooding, landslides and sewage spills has made foliage in wild areas grow lush, and that could lead to more intense brushfires later in the summer.

"A lot depends on the weather and how dry it gets," Rogers said. "But normally, you get a lot of rain, it eventually dries out and that increases your fuel load."

Rogers said he hopes authorities will have new tools this summer to control the blazes.

"We're very hopeful this (legislation) is going to help us and the police and the prosecutor's office," he said. "Maybe these people who start these fires are going to get the message. There are some people out there who will have to be made examples of; whether they are juveniles or adults, they're going to have to pay the consequences for their actions."

Of the seven arrests in 2005, authorities can point to only one prosecution. That case involved a woman arrested with a Molotov cocktail in her car and was adjudicated in federal court.

Willolyn Kapena Jose, a 27-year-old Nanakuli woman, pleaded guilty in March to making and possessing a Molotov cocktail. The maximum sentence possible that she faces in July is 10 years in prison, said Assistant U.S. Attorney William Shipley.

Honolulu police and prosecutors say laws protecting the identities of juveniles prohibit law enforcement officials from discussing what sorts of penalties underage violators may or may not have incurred in connection with brushfires. They won't say how many, if any, juveniles have been prosecuted.

Adults, however, do not have those privacy protections, and prosecutors say that not a single adult in at least the past decade has been prosecuted in state court for offenses connected to brushfires.

FIGHTING BLAZES COSTLY

Lori Nishimura, deputy prosecuting attorney assigned to legislative issues, said the prosecutor's office hopes the new legislation will help bring the brushfire problem under control. .

In the past, she said, attempts at prosecuting brushfire suspects had to be made under the state's criminal property damage law. Prosecutors would be forced to show a dollar loss to get a conviction, a difficult proposition when much of the damage was limited to blackened overgrown grass.

Under the bills Lingle is reviewing, those who start brushfires, or the parents or guardians if they are minors, could be required to pay the costs of fighting the fire, which can be considerable.

While the Fire Department has not been tracking expenses incurred while fighting the blazes, a single hour of the Fire Department helicopter costs more than $540, and often larger Army National Guard helicopters are brought in to assist, Rogers said.

One hour's work by one Fire Department engine company costs more than $250 in salaries and vehicle costs. Up to 20 engine companies were used in at least two of last year's larger blazes, in addition to firefighting units from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and other government agencies.

In early September 2005, estimates of last year's brushfires were made in applications for federal assistance and ran about $700,000. Two fires, one in Nanakuli and one in Kipapa Gulch, were estimated to have cost more than $100,000 each.

Wayne F. Ching, state protection forester for the Department of Land and Natural Resources, said his division had gone through its $300,000 fire contingency fund by early September and had to tap into the budgets of other sections to get another $150,000 to continue to fight brushfires.

Rogers said although the dollar amounts may be staggering, he is bothered more by the impact the brushfires have on the safety of O'ahu's residents.

When 20 companies are needed to keep a brushfire from spreading into homes or protected wilderness areas, he said, that leaves only 22 to respond to all fire and emergency medical calls throughout the island.

"People expect, when they call 911 that we're going to be there," Rogers said. "When we have half our people in Wai'anae or Nanakuli, that is going to limit our response."

Firefighters who spend hour upon hour fighting brushfires, wearing heavy protective gear and climbing to remote areas in the summer heat return to their normal duties exhausted, he said.

"It affects your response to other people's needs," Rogers said. "It affects your morale. People will say, 'Well, you are paid to work 24 hours, give me 24 hours.' But we're human, right?"

CALL FOR MORE STAFF

Both Rogers and recently retired Honolulu Fire Chief Attilio Leonardi, who helped push the legislation, said proving responsibility for a brushfire under the new law could require a means to track expenses more quickly as well as more investigators and more brushfire-specific training, for both the Fire Department and Police Department, each of which has three investigators.

"The ones we have now are quite busy, Leonardi said. "If the law proves worthwhile, I think we should hire more investigators. Finally, the Legislature does something, and I think we should at least do what we can to make it work."

Frank Fujii, a spokesman for the Police Department, said he hopes the new legislation will make more people willing to come forward to report violators.

Rogers said he thought the Wai'anae Coast community seemed more willing to do that. After last year's blazes, he said, the residents seemed fed up.

State legislators think so, too.

"Setting fires behind Nanakuli High School was almost an annual tradition," said state Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha). "The community couldn't understand why we didn't have any prosecutions.

"We worked very hard with the community in drafting these bills, and hopefully it will provide the tools authorities need to catch and prosecute these people."

Reach Karen Blakeman at kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.