Firefighters mopped up final hot spots Monday on a brush fire that consumed nearly 200 acres this weekend in a populated area of North Kona.
Firefighters mopped up final hot spots Monday on a brush fire that consumed nearly 200 acres this weekend in a populated area of North Kona.
Residents of Wainani Estates and Kona Acres cleaned up ash and put behind them a harrowing holiday chapter that kept many on edge for two days with shifting smoke and winds and sporadic flareups from a blaze that consumed dry vegetation to the very edge of the subdivisions.
Firefighters had their hands full containing the flames Saturday afternoon and Sunday, as flareups broke out at different points and the blaze, in some cases, ran in opposing directions.
Bulldozers broke fire lines around the perimeter Saturday night and two helicopters did water drops Saturday and Sunday, along with ground efforts involving crews with tankers and hoses.
Firefighters, assisted by a chopper, continued to monitor the area Monday and put out a handful of hotspots along the mauka edge of the burn below Kona Acres.
The fire, which broke out Saturday afternoon, blackened 193 acres of brush south and west of the subdivisions, Hawaii Fire Department Battalion Chief Joseph Farias said Monday morning following a helicopter overflight of the fire.
Some unburned fuel between the fire lines and houses in Wainani Estates, however, remained a concern Monday afternoon.
“The remaining fuel is still the threat,” Farias said. “We have less to worry about now, but we still have things to be concerned with.”
Email Bret Yager at byager@westhawaiitoday.com.