Fire scorches vacant land near Elderly Housing

KAILUA-KONA — It was another smoky day at the Hualalai Elderly housing complex.

Hawaii County firefighters battled a brush fire Thursday morning that rapidly spread to 3 acres and threatened the housing complex, closing Hualalai Road between Nani Kailua Drive and Kuakini Highway for several hours. Residents, who said it wasn’t the first fire to break out in the area, were armed with hoses and helped dampen the head of the blaze as it spread mauka from vacant land, reaching a stone wall at the makai edge of the complex.

Twenty firefighters from five companies used hoses and streams of water from two turret trucks to soak the blaze and wet down thick grass and brush ahead of the fire.

The effort, aided by a 6-foot stone wall, kept the fire out of the complex. No structures were damaged and there were no mandatory evacuations in the blaze, which was first reported at 10:30 a.m., largely contained by noon and declared out at 2:30 p.m.

A shelter was opened at the Kekuaokalani Gymnasium for those choosing to self-evacuate, but no one had used the shelter by mid-afternoon.

Capt. Gifford Matsuoka said a southwest wind helped keep the fire from spreading into more vacant land to the south and blew the brunt of the smoke away from the housing complex.

That wasn’t the case in 2012, when smoke from a similar blaze forced the evacuation of the complex. Smaller fires have occurred sporadically in the area since then.

“Round three. This is the third time since I’ve been here,” said resident Larry Johnson, watching the scene unfold to the west.

Residents were quick to blame the fire on the homeless camping on the vacant land. Firefighters said the cause hasn’t been determined.

“It’s homeless people cooking, smoking, fighting. We’re sick of it,” one resident declared.

Barbara Smith and Emily Collins poked a garden hose over the hedge to help soak down the fire break area.

“In case it jumps over, we’re good,” Smith said. “We did this last time.”