Maui firefighters battled two separate brush fires, one of which threatened several homes in Haiku.

Shortly after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, firefighters responded to a half-acre brush fire on the makai side of Hana Highway and Haiku Road.

Windy conditions fanned the flames, threatening six homes on the 2200 block of Hana Highway, according to Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto, spokesman of the Maui Fire Department. Affected residents were evacuated as firefighters battled the fire that came within five feet of the homes.

Police also closed the highway between Pauwela Road and Maliko Gulch for approximately three hours Wednesday night after the fire spread 50 acres.

Goodfellow Brothers Co. assisted firefighters by using a bulldozer to cut a firebreak.

No structures were damaged and residents returned to their homes by 11 p.m.

Taomoto said firefighters contained the fire shortly after midnight Thursday. Throughout the day, crews returned to the area to check for any hot spots.

Firefighters had just extinguished a fast-moving brush fire in Paia before they responded to the brush fire in Haiku.

The Paia fire occurred at about 1:35 p.m. Wednesday at the old Paia Sugar Mill. The fire department’s Air 1 helicopter assisted with water drops to control the fire that scorched about eight acres of fallow sugar cane fields before firefighters extinguished it at 5:50 p.m.

No injuries were reported and no structures were threatened.

The causes of both fires are undetermined.