Called in to 911 emergency dispatchers at 12:27 p.m., the blaze quickly consumed dry brush and moved north and mauka toward Lahainaluna Road. And, although the Na Hale O Wainee Resource Center was downwind of the fire, dozens of people were evacuated from the homeless shelter as a precaution.

West Maui firefighters pounced on the blaze, calling in at least three helicopters to make rapid water drops and bringing in bulldozers to cut firebreaks. Witnesses said firefighters worked quickly to stamp out the fire before it escalated into a wildfire like the one that consumed 2,600 acres from Olowalu to Launiupoko last week.

Tuesday's fire burned 180 acres mauka of the aquatic center, said Maui County spokeswoman Mahina Martin. She reported the fire was 90 percent contained late Tuesday. No injuries were reported, and the blaze didn't require closure of Honoapiilani Highway, although traffic moved slowly going in and out of Lahaina, particularly at a chokepoint near the aquatic center. Police diverted traffic at Kalena Street along Lahainaluna Road.

Among the first to see the fire was 63-year-old Larry Cabanilla, owner of an auto repair shop who lives near the aquatic center.

Some of his family members "saw the kids run from where the fire started," he said. "They kind of recognized the kids."

With flames only about 300 feet away, Cabanilla grabbed a garden hose and doused brush mauka of his home. Although the fire was moving away from him, he worried about a change in wind direction.

"If it comes down here ... we're going to be in a major situation," he said.

Cabanilla watched as a helicopter dropped a load of water between his home and the fire, and he breathed a little easier.

"We should be OK," he said. "We got 'em under control."

Officials at Na Hale O Wainee Resource Center saw smoke near the aquatic center and quickly realized there was a fire, said Aloha Kaniho, the 40-year-old site director.

After calling 911 and reporting the fire to supervisors at the Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource Center in Wailuku, Kaniho said officials decided to evacuate residents of the Lahaina homeless shelter and affordable transitional housing facility, particularly because there's only one road in and out.

"We got them out of there," he said, adding the flames came within 100 to 200 yards of the facility.

Luckily, Kaniho said, most of the center's residents were not at home because they were working or out elsewhere. Between 50 to 80 people had to leave the facility mauka of the Lahaina Recreation Center. If the fire had occurred when the facility was fully occupied, it would have required an evacuation of more than 200 people from the center's shelter, dormitories and housing units, he said.

Center residents were told to meet at Kamehameha Iki Park in Lahaina, and there were plans to relocate them to the Lahaina Civic Center where they would get assistance from the Red Cross and Maui Civil Defense Agency, Kaniho said.

A lifelong resident of Lahaina, Kaniho said the threat of wildfires has increased dramatically since Pioneer Mill abandoned the cultivation of sugar cane in 1999.

"Nowadays there's no cane," Kaniho said.

"It's unbelievable the fires we see now. ... Five to 10 years ago, there was no talk about brush fire ... no problems."

Downwind of the flames, residents of the Kelawea Mauka subdivision worried, but they took some comfort in watching numerous helicopter water drops and bulldozer operators working quickly to carve firebreaks.

"It's kind of scary ... even now it's getting close" to Lahainaluna Road, said Jennifer Haight, a resident of Kanakea Loop. But "I think they'll get it out before we have to get evacuated."

Haight said she first saw smoke from the fire as she was driving home from Napili.

Seeing the blaze near her home was alarming, especially since vegetation in the area has been "extremely dry ... almost all the way up to the (Lahainaluna) L." It's really, really dry."

She said she counted at least three helicopters drenching areas with water to calm the flames.

Residents along Lahainaluna Road also feared the worst and watered down their backyards as they could see the fire creeping toward them.

Blair Wooldridge rushed home from work after hearing about the fire. He said he saw a wall of flames 10 to 12 feet high come within 100 to 150 yards of his home along Lahainaluna Road.

Wooldridge prepared to evacuate.

"I was putting things in the back of my truck," he said. "It was close."

Wooldridge said he was feeling relieved when he saw only white smoke and no flames indicating the firefighters had quelled the blaze with water.

"They did a really good job. They had a lot of practice," he added, referring to firefighters' work Tuesday and their battle with last week's massive brush fire.

Wooldridge's landlord, Rick Avila, took no chances and continued to water down his backyard and nearby brush although no flames could be seen.

While it was a precautionary measure, Avila also watered down dust as a bulldozer cut a firebreak between his property and the open fields.

"It looks pretty good right now," Avila said about the fire. "I got to give credit to those guys."

Malicia Uwekoolani, who lives across the street from Avila's lot, said the fire spread fast from behind the aquatic center and uphill toward Lahainaluna Road.

"We saw it start from all the way from the bottom. ... It didn't take long," she said as she watched the fire from an empty lot along Lahainaluna Road.

Uwekoolani's 11-year-old daughter, Shelby, didn't go to softball practice in Kahului fearing she wouldn't be able to return home if the wildfire spread out of control and there was a highway closure.

John Armstrong, a project manager for Goodfellow Brothers, said his company was helping fight the blaze with two bulldozers cutting firebreaks and five tankers supplementing firefighters' supply of water. The company also made available a "mulch truck" capable of spraying water.

Martin said the Fire Department dispatched three helicopters, six water tankers and five engine crews to the fire scene. Four bulldozers were used to cut firebreaks, she said.

A Little League state tournament game for 9- and 10-year-olds between Molokai and Kailua scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday at Lahaina Little League Field was postponed. It was rescheduled for 10 a.m. today at War Memorial Little League Field No. 1.

Other games scheduled for Lahaina were relocated to the War Memorial Complex in Wailuku. Waipio will play at 1 p.m. today against the winner of the Molokai-Kailua game. Another game between Waipio and the Molokai-Kailua winner, if necessary, will be played at 10 a.m. Thursday.