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With brush fires on the rise, crews gear up for wildfire season

Drier conditions expected to bring wildfire season earlier than usual in coming summer months

Maui Fire Department crews monitor a controlled burn aimed on preventing a larger brush fire in this photo provided by the department at a Maui County Fire and Public Safety Commission meeting on Thursday. The department is preparing for a wildfire season that’s expected to come earlier than usual this summer due to drier conditions. Brush fires are also on the rise, going from nine in January to 12 in February, 18 in March and 21 in April. — MFD photo

With the number of brush fires increasing as the weather heats up, firefighters are preparing for an earlier wildfire season.

“We’re going into that season,” Assistant Chief Henry Hanale Lindo said during a presentation at the Maui County Fire and Public Safety Commission meeting Thursday. “Just last week we had a rash of brush fires that could have impacted us hugely. But thank goodness a lot of the right components were in place so we could mitigate, stop it without it expanding and making a huge loss for our county.”

Along with firetrucks, tankers, firefighters and the Fire Department’s Air One helicopter that were mobilized to fight six suspicious brush fires reported within a 90-minute period May 12 in Central Maui, Mahi Pono and county Public Works employees responded quickly to the largest of the fires that burned 5 acres of state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands property along Maui Veterans Highway, Lindo said.

“Utilizing these agencies was huge,” he said.

Both he and Deputy Chief Gavin Fujioka also responded to the fire, which at one point crossed the highway in winds of 10 to 20 mph with intermittent strong gusts and extremely dry conditions. “Based on our experience, we got to look at the fire knowing which way it was running,” Lindo said.

Firefighters walk between two burned fields of brush on Maui. Crews are planning to hold wildland burn exercises on Maui and Molokai in preparation for wildfire season, which is just around the corner. — MFD photo

Police arrested a man and woman who were charged with second-degree arson in connection with the fire near the National Guard armory in Puunene.

The cause wasn’t determined for another brush fire a day earlier at Pulehu and Firebreak roads in Puunene that burned about 60 acres.

The burned acreage in those two fires alone exceeded the 4.27 acres burned in 60 brush fires and 7 acres burned in a forest fire in the first four months of the year. Fire Department statistics show the number of brush fires steadily increasing this year from nine in January to 12 in February, 18 in March and 21 in April.

“The trend continues to rise in our wildfires,” said Fire Chief Brad Ventura. “As things are getting drier, our wildfires are going up.”

He noted that because of drier conditions, the National Weather Service is predicting the peak of the wildfire season will be in June and July instead of late July and August.

“The past wet season was the 12th driest in the last 30 years,” Ventura said. “Most of us did not see any rain in our neck of the woods.”

To help prepare for the wildfire season, Lindo said he has spent the past two months identifying and updating a list of government and private agencies that can help in a fire.

Next month, a wildland burn exercise off Waiko Road south of Kuihelani Highway will provide firefighters with training as well as remove brush that could be fuel for a wildfire, Lindo said.

Smoke from the training shouldn’t affect nearby homes and will create a buffer zone, Ventura said.

He said similar burn exercises have been carried out in other areas including Launiupoko and Molokai Hawaiian Homes land. The department needs permission from landowners and will assess the area so a fire won’t affect nearby residents.

“We try to tie in our training to specific areas that are high risk,” Ventura said.

Lindo said fighting fires starts with prevention, including evaluating topography and areas potentially at risk for fire and having the right equipment at fire stations, which each operate differently because of the terrain and weather.

At a fire scene, firefighters will employ not only a “direct fire attack with hoses” but an indirect attack using using bulldozers and hand crews who work at a distance from the fire and try to indirectly stop it, Lindo said. That could include back burns that are “fighting fire with fire,” he said.

“We want to overrun the incident,” he said. “The faster we can surround the incident and get resources around it, the faster we can demobilize and start sending people home because we’re able to contain and stop the fires.”

* Lila Fujimoto can be reached at lfujimoto@mauinews.com.

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