KEKAHA — No news is good news, said Bea Raco, Saturday morning. Raco has a farm just outside of Kekaha and spent her Statehood Day holiday evacuating equipment and other pieces of farm equipment from her farm while fingers of
KEKAHA — No news is good news, said Bea Raco, Saturday morning.
Raco has a farm just outside of Kekaha and spent her Statehood Day holiday evacuating equipment and other pieces of farm equipment from her farm while fingers of fire crept down the hillside from the Koke‘e brush fire on Poki‘i Ridge.
“My grandson hasn’t called, yet,” Racco said from her table at the Kaua‘i Community Market at the Kaua‘i Community College Saturday morning. “No news is good news, for me, at least. I couldn’t sleep last night, I was so worried.”
Kaua‘i Fire Chief Robert Westerman, whose backyard overlooks the fiery vista crawling along the hillsides outside of Kekaha, said although highly visible to residents in the area, there is no immediate threat to any homes or buildings.
The announcement was made during a Saturday afternoon update on the fire, which was initially responded to shortly after midnight Friday morning near Poki‘i Ridge off Koke‘e Road by Rescue 3 personnel along with Trucks 5, 6 and 7 and Engines 6 and 7.
Although the fire was deemed “under control” at approximately 4 a.m., a flare up forced the closure of Koke‘e Road from the Koke‘e and Kekaha Road junction as fire crews from the state Department of Land and Natural Resources assumed Incident Commander of the fire and were joined by Kaua‘i Fire Department resources Friday morning as the blaze spread to Paua and Waiaka ridges.
Traffic was diverted to the Waimea Canyon Drive, but after battling the blaze which has scorched about 1,000 acres over two days, Westerman is asking for a voluntary evacuation of Koke‘e.
“We feel access out of Koke‘e via Koke‘e Road and Waimea Canyon Drive may be compromised as we continue to fight the fire,” Westerman said in a release. “We’re recommending that anyone currently in Koke‘e evacuate, now.”
He said, in the interest of public safety, the public is urged to keep away from the area if at all possible.
Water Conservation
Power to an area where Department of Water storage tanks are located was shut off Friday, prompting the DOW to request Kekaha residents and visitors to conserve water and restrict water consumption to essential uses only such as cooking, bathing and toilet flushing, until power can be restored.
Restricting water consumption to essential uses reduces the likelihood of a total water outage, the county release states.
Electrical outage
In addition to power being shut off to the DOW storage tanks, Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative officials initiated a voluntary power outage for all of Koke‘e as a precaution as the fire approached a high voltage power line Saturday morning.
The outage will remain in effect at least until today, states the release.
PMRF help
The Pacific Missile Range Facility in Mana joined the state DLNR and the Kaua‘i Fire Department in efforts to battle the Koke‘e blaze at 7 a.m. Saturday after receiving a request for assistance from the County of Kaua‘i emergency services, states a PMRF release.
The U.S. Navy base immediately dispatched a fire truck, a fire command unit and four civilian firefighters from Manu Kai, PMRF’s contract fire department, to assist with the fire.
The PMRF crew will be utilized for boundary firefighting efforts and the direct defense of the residents and property in Kekaha town.
Additionally, PMRF opened its airfield for refueling support of the county’s firefighting helicopters. Croman Corp., the PMRF contract helicopter company, has two helicopters with firefighting capabilities and is standing by to provide assistance, if requested.
PMRF maintains a Memorandum of Understanding with the county to render emergency assistance when call upon.
County officials said in addition to the PMRF assistance, private contractors have also joined the battle, providing equipment such as helicopters, bulldozers, a fuel tanker and water tenders to assist in suppression efforts.
Westerman said no homes or buildings are threatened and the public is urged to stay away from the area.
The cause of the Friday morning blaze still remains under investigation.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
