Letter: Eliminate brush grass that fuels wildfires

Hawaiian Electric said it acknowledges that its equipment sparked a morning fire on Aug. 8, but its lines were de-energized hours before a different fire started in the afternoon (“Power lines didn’t start deadly Lahaina inferno, Hawaiian Electric says,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 27).

This report confirms the deadly characteristics of the non-indigenous brush grasses that ultimately were responsible for the disastrous fire in Lahaina. The afternoon fire was a continuation of the earlier fire in brush grass that had been reported by firefighters as contained.

The brush grass on Maui apparently has botanical structures that can hold onto live embers even with wet stalks and perhaps wet roots that extend below ground level. Firefighters who have not been trained in this possibility may think the fire has been extinguished when it is out of sight until stalks are dry and ready to burn.

Since Kamehameha Schools owns much of the vacant land where brush grasses grow, that organization, with help from others, should promptly begin the eradication of non-indigenous brush grasses on Maui and other Hawaiian islands where they may exist.

Mary Caywood

Wailupe

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