Honolulu, federal and Army wildland firefighters battled a large brush fire Thursday that started as a test of the Army’s ability to control just such a blaze and quickly spread.
The blaze got within about a mile from homes at Helemano Military Reservation, said Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig. Seelig said such prescribed types of burns are not often performed here.
The fire, which covered more than 200 acres, posed no danger to people or houses, but wreaked havoc on traffic in the area Thursday afternoon and into the evening. Thick smoke covered Kamehameha Highway in several areas near Helemano.
The fire appeared to have started around noon along Paalaa Uka Road, the main access road to Helemano, said Seelig.
Kamehameha Highway was closed for several hours in both directions in that area, forcing North Shore traffic to detour to Kaukonahua Road.
Kayla Overton, a spokeswoman for U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, said in an email that the fire started as a "test burn" coordinated by Colorado State University under a contract with the Army; the landowner, Dole Food Co.; and the Army’s Wildland Fire Program.
The plan was to burn four test plots, each 164 by 246 feet, in a fallow agricultural field owned by Dole, between Helemano and Kamehameha Highway, Overton said.
"The purpose of the test plots was to observe fire behavior of Guinea grass," she said. "This information assists the Army with future prevention and control of Guinea grass fires on its training areas. This data also provides foundational information useful to other firefighters, planners and responders throughout Hawaii."
Seelig said it appeared that winds of 15 to 20 mph caused the fire to burn out of control.
"The moisture in the grass was pretty high, compared to what it normally is," he said. "The wind just kicked up. We saw the effect of it. It continued to jump."
Seelig said a firebreak cut by a Dole Food heavy-equipment operator at the Haleiwa end of the fire prevented the blaze from going down into a gulch, which would have made it more difficult to control.
Three Army wildland fire crews, the Honolulu Fire Department with eight to nine engines and four tankers, and five to six Federal Fire Department crews responded to the fire, Seelig said.
An HFD helicopter and a private chopper contracted by the Army made numerous water drops.
The Army said the incident is under investigation.
Environmental watchdog Carroll Cox, who was on scene Thursday afternoon, said prescribed burning is an old method that sometimes works, but "there’s an element of unpredictability," citing the wind and other conditions.
The fire prompted the closure of Kamehameha Highway between Kamananui Road and Weed Junction at about 12:35 p.m.
Kamehameha Highway from Paalaa Uka Road (also known as Pupukea Road), at the entrance to Helemano Military Reservation, south toward Wahiawa, reopened shortly after 3 p.m. The North Shore end of Kamehameha remained closed from Paalaa Uka Road to Joseph P. Leong Highway in Haleiwa until 4:42 p.m., Honolulu police dispatch said.
Access in and out of the Helemano housing complex was blocked for a time as a result.
All roads reopened just after 7 p.m.
Helemano Military Reservation is a 1,000-home community with a population of about 3,000, said Ann Wharton of Island Palm Communities, a commercial company that manages the community for the Army.
The Army routinely uses "controlled" burns to clear fire-prone vegetation from gun ranges, and those burns occasionally get out of control. Wind is often a culprit.
On July 22, 2003, when the Army still used Makua Valley for live-fire training, such a burn got out of hand when winds whipped up to 32 mph.
The intent was to burn 900 acres so the Army could find and remove unexploded ordnance. Instead, 2,100 acres of the 4,190-acre Waianae Coast valley were scorched.
At least 71 individual endangered plants and 150 acres of critical habitat were destroyed. An ongoing environmental lawsuit has prevented a return to live-fire training there since 2004.
