LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Fire Department inspectors are still seeking the cause of a Puhi warehouse fire that kept dozens of firefighters busy for over 12 hours Thursday, county officials said. Puhi Road was closed until 4 p.m., nearly 12 hours
LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Fire Department inspectors are still seeking the cause of a Puhi warehouse fire that kept dozens of firefighters busy for over 12 hours Thursday, county officials said.
Puhi Road was closed until 4 p.m., nearly 12 hours after the fire was reported at 4:44 a.m., according to a county press release.
The road closures were necessitated because of the need to hook up to fire hydrants located at the intersections of Leleiona and Kaneka streets and Puhi Road, large feeder hoses feeding pumper trucks from the Lihu‘e and Hanapepe fire stations running across Puhi Road.
According to Kaua‘i Police Department Patrol Services Bureau units on scene to monitor traffic, the closure was made at Kaumuali‘i Highway and Puhi Road and Kaneka Street and Puhi Road to eliminate the need for motorists to have to turn when they reached the closed intersections.
Firefighters from five KFD stations, the Lihu‘e headquarters and, for a period of time, firefighters from the Lihu‘e Airport Crash Fire station, fought the blaze in the 13,000-square-foot warehouse.
Tenants in the warehouses owned by Grove Farm Company include Kaua‘i Freight Service, Hamco, Beachside Roofing and a surfboard- and boat-repair business.
Although the fire was reported contained at 7 a.m., billows of smoke continued to pour from the building through the afternoon.
No one was injured.
While the warehouses were still standing, onlookers reported the corrugated roofs of the buildings appeared to have melted from the heat of the fire inside.
An excavator operator with Kaua‘i Freight assisted firefighters by removing corrugated metal from the warehouse roof to allow firefighters better access to the fire, states the county release.
This was done because of the unstable structural stability of the building caused by the fire and ensuring the safety of the firefighters.
Some 28 firefighters from the Lihu‘e, Kalaheo, Hanapepe, Koloa and Kapa‘a stations responded.
Because of the length of time needed to extinguish the blaze, an incident command post was established and a rehabilitation area set up where firefighters could recuperate from the arduous task of following the cranes into the smoldering warehouses.
A technical truck used to refill oxygen bottles was part of the setup because of the need for firefighters to don oxygen masks as protection from the smoke.
Later in the day, recruits from the latest KFD class under the direction of instructor Steven Doi arrived to help firefighters with some of the work associated with fighting the stubborn blaze, including the breakdown so the roads could be re-opened in time for the afternoon rush hour.
Preliminary estimates place damage to the structures and contents at over $1 million.
Interested spectators lined both sides of the Grove Farm park earlier this morning, including tenants of businesses which were evacuated from the adjoining areas.
Among the contents of the warehouses was about a three-month supply of newsprint used to print The Garden Island newspaper. It was all ruined.
With just a 10-day supply of newsprint at the Kuhio Highway offices, The Garden Island reached out to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, whose leaders offered a surplus container of newsprint so the Kaua‘i daily newspaper could continue production uninterrupted.
“We are very relieved to hear no one was injured in the warehouse fire in Puhi,” said Randy Kozerski, The Garden Island publisher and editor.
“We will continue to provide the same excellent level of service to our readers and advertisers,” and will continue to publish daily despite the newsprint loss, he said.
The fire at the warehouses along Puhi Road prompted the evacuation of several nearby businesses, including KFMN, the FM radio station at 96.9 on the dial. The station continued to broadcast.
Firefighters on scene said the debris will continue to smoke for the next few days because of the nature of what is burning. They will monitor the situation.
