The man arrested on suspicion of setting three brushfires near Makapu'u Thursday that closed Kalaniana'ole Highway and contributed to a massive headache for O'ahu motorists is a former Honolulu firefighter, officials said yesterday.

Kenton F. Leong, 41, of Enchanted Lake, was a Honolulu Fire Department firefighter for 17 years and was fired in March, HFD Capt. Terry Selig said.

Selig said he could not comment on the circumstances of Leong's termination. Leong had not been charged as of yesterday evening.

Police arrested Leong on suspicion of starting the Makapu'u fires, which burned about 8 acres of brush on the makai side of Kalaniana'ole Highway along the Ka Iwi scenic shoreline park near the Makapu'u lighthouse.

The highway was closed between the Hawai'i Kai golf course and the entrance to the lighthouse trail for more than an hour.

Seelig had said the fires started at 6:15 a.m., 7:40 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. and that the department's helicopter and seven companies battled the blazes.

Police arrested Leong after an officer saw a suspicious man walk out of the brush area toward the Ka Iwi trail parking lot at 10:15 a.m. The officer then saw the third fire ignite from where the man was seen emerging from the brush.

The fires were part of a triple whammy that frustrated O'ahu motorists Thursday.

Whale bones fell off a pickup truck on Kahekili Highway after being salvaged from the decomposing carcass of a whale in Kahuku.

The bones blocked traffic on Kahekili Highway headed toward Likelike Highway, and even after they were removed, gawkers kept traffic backed up from Ha'iku Road to Temple Valley.

The bones had been taken from a sperm whale carcass, before it was buried in Kahuku, by students and teachers at Hawai'i Pacific University. HPU had a federal permit to take the bones for research.

Also Thursday, morning road maintenance in Nu'uanu added up to an hour to the commute of drivers using the Pali Highway to enter Honolulu.