The state Department of Land and Natural Resources announced the Poki‘i ridge fire is fully contained Wednesday evening. A total of 25 state DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife personnel from Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i and O‘ahu joined the effort Wednesday, using
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources announced the Poki‘i ridge fire is fully contained Wednesday evening.
A total of 25 state DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife personnel from Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i and O‘ahu joined the effort Wednesday, using one tender and one bulldozer.
Breaking out shortly after midnight Friday, the blaze burned some 3,000 acres along the Poki‘i, Paua and Waiaka ridges and involved scores of fire fighting and other personnel from the Kaua‘i Fire Department, the Kaua‘i Police Department, the state DLNR and the Pacific Missile Range Facility.
“DLNR appreciates the strong support of the Kaua‘i Fire Department to combat this stubborn fire,” states Paul Conry, DLNR Interim First Deputy, in a DLNR release.
Crews concentrated its effort on mopping up and cold trailing fire edges, and those efforts benefited from the clouds and rain in the early afternoon.
Neighbor island crews from O‘ahu and Hawai‘i will demobilize Thursday afternoon while Kaua‘i crews will maintain a fire watch and start equipment removal.
Koke‘e Road remains closed until further notice. Waimea Canyon Drive was reopened Tuesday by county officials.
Waimea Canyon and Koke‘e state parks are open, accessed through Waimea Canyon Drive in Waimea town, and water service is being restored, states the DLNR release.
Portable toilets, provided Tuesday, will be removed Thursday.
Camping within the Koke‘e Campsite will remain open with portable toilets provided.
The county’s Department of Water continues to request Kekaha and some Waimea residents limit water consumption to essential uses such as cooking, bathing and toilet flushing until power can be restored to a water storage tank which services the area.
County officials said the water level at the tank is low and limiting water consumption will help to reduce the likelihood of a total water outage.
Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative Transmission and Distribution line crews were in Koke‘e Tuesday, replacing poles which were burned by the wildfire.
Crews worked into the evening hours using headlamps to replant the five poles, which were replaced Monday, and by Tuesday evening, power was restored to the 130 affected customers, states a KIUC release.
A total of 11 poles were damaged by the fire, leading KIUC officials to estimate power restoration by Wednesday. But the crews, working through ash, dust and heat, beat the deadline.
KIUC assigned all of its line crews into the affected area to make repairs as quickly as possible. The fire was one of the most damaging to KIUC’s infrastructure in recent memory, and the fire also damaged radio and fiber optic cables.
Power to the Koke‘e area was shut down Saturday morning when it became evident the brush fire was moving through the area where the infrastructure was located.
There has been no estimate on the repair costs and the cause of the blaze remains under investigation.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
