Thursday night’s Nanakuli wildfire, which at one time came close to homes, grew into a 1,000-acre blaze moving away from structures as of Friday evening, fire officials said.
Wind fueled the spread
of the fire Friday, continuing to move it upslope on the Honolulu side of Nanakuli Valley away from homes, said fire Capt. James Todd.
Fire Capt. David Jenkins said, “The fuel is basically gone, so it’s not a huge threat to the homes.”
However, Nanakuli resident Julie Panui said the fire continued to smolder Friday afternoon and got as close as 50 yards on the other side of a gulch from homes near Nanakuli High and Intermediate School, creating thick clouds of smoke.
Firefighters responded shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday to a 2-acre brush fire at Pikaiolena Street and Waiea Place that started on the eastern ridge of Nanakuli Valley and was moving downslope toward homes. The wind began to intensify at 8:15 p.m., and fire officials said the fire was getting close to homes.
At 8:30 p.m. Thursday police closed traffic to the area and notified residents of a voluntary evacuation, while firefighters took a protective position between houses and the oncoming fire.
Firefighters used hose lines and hand tools to battle the flames. The fire near the homes was contained at 10:30 p.m. Thursday and
on all remaining fronts by 12:15 a.m. Friday, and a total of 400 acres was burned, Jenkins said. But later in the morning the fire flared up.
On Friday the Honolulu Fire Department’s helicopter resumed water drops and brought firefighters to remote locations inaccessible by foot due to the steep terrain, Jenkins said.
Firefighters worked from 8 a.m. Friday until sundown, using hand tools to control the fire, and others stood watch later monitoring the fire.
Forty fire personnel battled the blaze Friday.
Department of Land and Natural Resources spokeswoman Deborah Ward said DLNR was called Friday morning after the fire flared up overnight.
DLNR deployed two contract helicopters to make water drops, and two DLNR personnel manned the pond where the helicopters refilled their buckets.
Ward said the immediate area contains Guinea grass and other non-native plants, but if the fire continues mauka, it could go deeper into the Nanakuli Forest Reserve and threaten the last remaining rare native gardenia plants in the area.
She said the fire had entered the southern tip of the forest reserve.
Todd said fire officials are hoping for favorable weather conditions to slow down the fire’s spread. He said the higher up the mountain, the wind gets stronger.
