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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 3:12 p.m., Thursday, October 5, 2006

Fire officials still watching Big Island brush fire

Advertiser Staff

PU'UANAHULU, Hawai'i — Big Island firefighters are dousing hot spots today from a brush fire that burned 1,000 acres in North Kona this week.

No homes or other structures were threatened by the fire, which was contained yesterday. It burned an area below milemarker 19 on Mamalahoa Highway between two lava flows that created a natural fire break, said Hawai'i County Civil Defense chief Troy Kindred.

Bulldozers were used to create additional firebreaks while helicopters conducted water drops, he said.

Although the fire never approached inhabited areas, heavy smoke caused some Pu'unani Ranches residents to leave their homes, Kindred said.