Two vehicle fires disrupted traffic briefly before being extinguished Friday afternoon in Waikapu and Kahului, fire officials said.
One fire reported at 1:45 p.m. was ignited when the driver of a four-door Dodge Ram truck lost control, hit a guardrail and flipped over, igniting a 100-by-30-foot swath of grass a half mile south of the Maui Tropical Plantation, between Honoapiilani Highway and a sugar cane field in Waikapu.
Fire Services Chief Lee Mainaga said that the front doors of the vehicle were jammed shut, and the male driver jumped into the back seat and made his way out of one of the back doors. The driver wasn't injured.
Article Photos
The burned-out shell of a pickup truck rests along Honoapiilani Highway on Friday afternoon in Waikapu. The truck overturned after its driver lost control of the vehicle. It came to rest near a telephone pole. The driver was uninjured, fire officials said.
The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Both lanes of the highway were closed for about 30 minutes, until a Lahaina-bound lane was reopened. Firefighters extinguished the blaze at 3:25 p.m. The highway reopened to both lanes of traffic at 3:28 p.m.
In another vehicle fire reported at 2:30 p.m., a 2010 Ford Fusion rental car was being shuttled for repairs in the area of Haleakala Highway and Keolani Place when a fire started in the engine compartment, said Kahului Airport fire Capt. Robert Acantilado.
He said contractors working in the area near Costco and Krispy Kreme used a water tanker to douse the flames before airport firefighters led by Lt. Benjamin Kalama arrived to extinguish residual fire.
No injuries were reported. Traffic was diverted around the area for about a half-hour.
