HANAPEPE — Firefighters from the Hanapepe, Kalaheo and Waimea fire stations, along with Rescue 3 aboard Air 1 and the Kauai‘i Fire Department fire-training bureau responded to a brush fire in the Salt Pond Beach Park area, off Kuiloko Road and Lokokai Road, around noon Friday.
HANAPEPE — Firefighters from the Hanapepe, Kalaheo and Waimea fire stations, along with Rescue 3 aboard Air 1 and the Kauai‘i Fire Department fire-training bureau responded to a brush fire in the Salt Pond Beach Park area, off Kuiloko Road and Lokokai Road, around noon Friday.
Kaua‘i Police Department officers arrested Jeremy Riopta, 40, on suspicion of arson, in relation to the fire. Riopta is currently in custody, and an investigation is ongoing.
The fire reportedly started when a mattress was set ablaze. Calls to dispatch came in around 12:19 p.m., according to an officer on the scene.
White smoke lingered off a dirt road across from the Kaua‘i Veterans Cemetery on Lokokai Road around 2 p.m. near an illegal homeless settlement surrounded by abandoned cars.
The small brush fire was deemed under control around 2:15 p.m., with firefighters on the scene to extinguish hot spots in the area.
The National Weather Service has been issuing Red Flag Warnings for leeward Kaua‘i, most recently for Thursday, which indicates the presence of critical fire weather conditions. It’s the combination of strong winds, low relative humidity and warm temperatures that can contribute to extreme fire danger.
If a fire were to develop in these conditions, it will likely spread rapidly, according to the NWS.
In addition to KFD and KPD, Hawai‘i National Guard members and heavy equipment from the county Department of Public Works were on the scene.
Kuiloko and Lokokai roads were shut down to incoming traffic for about two hours.
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Sabrina Bodon, public safety and government reporter, can be reached at 245-0441 or sbodon@thegardenisland.com.
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Another homeless fire on our island. This makes 2 in one week.
Clean them out of the brush!!!
Please clear ALL the TONS OF
trash out of the area!!!! This land belongs to All of Us!!! Give the homeless a new site where they are able to get a LIFE!!!
MAHALO
Interacting with all of those poor souls living on that side of salt pond will make a way better article to understand the situation leading to arson. Talented, down on their luck people with no public resources. Mechanics, carpenters, all kinds of essential workers.
Check the capital rooting the whole population of the world on the global plantation. Where is compassions that all of the so called religions espouse? Read capitalism by Marx and relate it to our global cornucopia that is messing up in an absurd way.