Blaze burns on Westside

WAIMEA — State and county firefighting crews continue to battle a brush fire that was burning at the western edge of Waimea Canyon Tuesday. The fire is one of three that scorched over 60 acres of brush since Monday.

About 30 state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildfire personel, along with the Kauai Fire Department, have been working to establish a control area between the 800-to-1,500-foot elevation of the mountain, amid grassland and haole koa shrubs. No homes or structures are threatened.

The fire was estimated at 10 to 20 percent contained early Tuesday.

The fire started around 3 p.m. Monday near the first water tank along Waimea Canyon Drive. It is located between two others in the Waimea area that drew out KFD and DLNR crews Monday. Those fires were under control by Monday afternoon.

Crews are using several fire pumper trucks, bulldozers, two water tender trucks, and a contract helicopter doing water drops.

Gusty and erratic winds have been a challenge for firefighters, according to a DLNR press release. Winds have been blowing flames away from Kekaha and Waimea.

No threatened or endangered species are located in this former cane growing area on state land owned by the Agribusiness Development Corporation and managed as a public hunting area by DLNR/DOFAW.

Waimea Canyon Drive remained closed Tuesday. Anyone going to Waimea Canyon State Park can still get there via Kekaha and Kokee Road.

The cause of these fires remains unknown.

However, initial county reports suggests the fire may have been ignited by sparks from a pickup truck operated by a Gay & Robinson employee.