Updated at 9:17 p.m., Saturday, January 27, 2007
Maui brush fire still going strong
Advertiser Staff
Firefighters on Saturday continued to battle a Maui brush fire on the upper slopes of Haleakala that had burned at least 600 acres.The flames were burning densely packed pine, eucalyptus and native forest trees in the Polipoli Forest Reserve at elevations between 6,000 and 7,000 feet.
More than 45 people were fighting the fire, including reinforcements from O'ahu, Kaua'i and the Big Island, said county information officer Mahina Martin.
Firefighters had doused 60 percent of the fire at one point, but they lost some ground because of the low humidity, high temperatures and stronger wind, and still had only about 30 percent of the fire at last report on Saturday.
The fire was reported Tuesday in the pine forest at the trailhead to the Waiohuli Trail. It expanded up the slopes above the access road to the forest reserve.
