A Hawaii island fire that grew to 4,000 acres was closing in on Lisa Dacalio’s two-bedroom deluxe Pahala cabin, 3 1/2-acre coffee farm and roadside coffee stand at Mile Marker 49.

Police shut down Highway 11, also known as Mamalahoa Highway, at mile markers 46, 49 and 51, where it had jumped the highway, while firefighters defended the house.

But Dacalio, recovering from surgery 2,300 miles away in San Francisco, wasn’t sure what was going on because she tried numerous times to call her husband but couldn’t get through.

"Gosh darn it, they better protect it," she said yesterday afternoon, switching between optimism and pessimism. "I called five times. I think my house is going to burn. … It’s surrounded by nothing but grasses and coffee trees — they’re all green. I just can’t see, unless there’s a raging fire, I don’t see it going down."

Hawaii County firefighters have been battling two separate fires in the Pahala area located in the dry Kau District for the past two days, but no structures were damaged and no one was injured.

Firefighters managed to hold down the smaller 400-acre fire of brush and trees, located mauka of Pahala town, Assistant Fire Chief Glen Honda said.

Meanwhile, the fire located on the makai side of Highway 11 continued to spread and by 6:30 p.m. yesterday reached 4,000 acres.

But Dacalio got a call from a neighbor who reassured her that the fire just skirted her house, sparing the bags of green coffee beans stored in the garage.

The Dacalio farm is one of several family-run farms in the area growing coffee, bananas, avocado and macadamia nuts. Their other farm, four miles above Pahala, was safe. The acres of macadamia nut trees are mostly owned by Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp., Honda said.

The area is a mix of dry brush, forest and farmland.

About 30 county firefighters, joined Tuesday by three National Parks Service personnel, battled the two blazes.

Bulldozers cut fire breaks, which helped slow down the fires, and a helicopter made water drops, but some areas were inaccessible to firefighters, Honda said.

"As far as the pace goes, we don’t have an upper hand on it yet, but we’re hopeful the rain will cooperate," Honda said. "At least the winds will slow down.

"We’ll continue working through the night. The main thing is we don’t want it to involve the mauka side of the highway to the extent that the winds don’t cause it to run away from us again."

Ka‘u Hospital’s emergency room was scheduled to reopen Tuesday night. Smoke from the mauka fire had forced the evacuation of 15 long-term care patients Monday from the 21-bed hospital to Naalehu Community Center. Most will remain at the center until today. One patient was picked up by a family member.

The makai fire was actively burning, but the weather was favorable, with winds slowing down, he said Tuesday night.

"We’re hoping to get more rain up there," he said. "That rain hasn’t come down to the bottom fire yet."

Fire officials acted "by locating units to the head of the fire" so they could try to prevent its further spread, Honda said.

Courtney Cowan, owner of a Naalehu macadamia nut orchard 20 miles from the makai fire, said the area has been extremely dry.

"This is the first good dose of rain in our area for four weeks. … They need the rain down there," he said.