LIHU‘E — State Department of Land and Natural Resources Forestry and Wildlife Division staffers combed fire-blackened areas in Wailua Tuesday to put out any “hot spots,” Kaua‘i Fire Department Chief Robert “Bob” Westerman said. The fire ignited Sunday night, and
LIHU‘E — State Department of Land and Natural Resources Forestry and Wildlife Division staffers combed fire-blackened areas in Wailua Tuesday to put out any “hot spots,” Kaua‘i Fire Department Chief Robert “Bob” Westerman said.
The fire ignited Sunday night, and blackened more than 400 acres mauka and south of Wailua Bay, before it was put under control early Monday morning, Westerman said.
In checking low-lying areas of Kalepa Ridge, the six DLNR personnel checked beneath the ash in search of any burning debris left under the soil, Westerman said. As of late Tuesday afternoon, there were no reports of any flare-ups.
“It is all contained,” Westerman told The Garden Island.
If the fire can rekindle, it will only be on the perimeter of the fire area, he said.
“It is only the edges that could catch fire,” Westerman said. “Things that could catch fire in the center (of the blackened area) aren’t going to go anywhere, because there is nothing left to burn.”
He said firefighters from the Kapa‘a station are ready to spring into action in responding to any flare-ups.
The fire was reported at 5:17 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21, and was declared under control around 1:30 a.m., Monday, Aug. 22, Westerman said.
The cause of the fire probably will never be known, because any potential “evidence” went up in the blaze, Westerman said.
The fire swept over lands Westerman believes are primarily managed by officials with the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and, at one point, headed in a southerly direction toward the Kauai Community Correctional Center in Wailua.
“At one point, KCCC officials called us to see if they should evacuate,” Westerman said.
Westerman said KCCC officials were told there was no need for that action, as firefighters, using water and creating firebreaks with the use of a county bulldozer, “knocked down the last front edge, the southern edge of the fire toward the jail.
“We had no fear that the jail was in any danger,” Westerman said. “We had a good access road to work on.”
From the former cane-haul road, which is located immediately mauka of Kuhio Highway, firefighters were able to beat back the fire and keep it from jumping makai across the highway and sweep toward the Aloha Beach Resort-Kauai.
“We worked it along the road to keep it back,” Westerman added. “We let it burn down to the (haul-cane) road, and then we put it out.”
Had that not happened, the fire could have threatened the resort and forced its evacuation, he added.
Two hours into the fire, as it lit up the sky, tourists and residents lined the highway in front of and near the hotel, to get a better look at the conflagration.
During the fire, Kaua‘i Police Department officers kept people from making their way to the fire on the mauka lands, and closed off traffic on Kuhio Highway from the entry to the hotel to Leho Drive. Traffic was then routed onto Leho Drive.
In all, 15 firefighters, two fire engines, each with 1,000-gallon tanks, four brush trucks, each with 250-gallon tanks, a county tender with a 1,500-gallon tank and the county bulldozer were used to fight the fire.
In general, water was pumped into the two fire engines via a single fire hydrant on the road, and was distributed to firefighting vehicles and equipment, Westerman said.
Air One (Inter-Island Helicopters) and a U.S. Navy helicopter, drawing from a water source, dropped loads of water onto the fire-besieged areas.
Westerman commended KFD Battalion Chief Albert Kaui, for his leadership at the fire scene.
“He did the job. He got the resources to where they needed to be,” Westerman said. “He had a good vision of where the fire was going.”
