Kokua Line
Kokua Line
Question: Just about every afternoon, there is a lot of smoke coming from somewhere near the base of the Waianae range away from Kunia Road. It can easily be seen heading toward Waianae on the H-1 freeway between Aiea and Kapolei. Is this a persistent brush fire, or is someone burning rubbish out there, and do they have a permit for this? It really messes up the scenery, and it's been going on for many weeks now. You would think those living in upper Makakilo would have gotten tired of the smoke smell by now. Makakilo smoke caused by
burning in Del Monte fieldAnswer: A lot of people in the Makakilo area have complained to both the state Department of Health's Clean Air Branch and Del Monte-Hawaii, which owns the pineapple field from which the smoke is emanating.
But Del Monte is not violating any regulation, so the department cannot force it to stop burning, said Lisa Young, an environmental specialist for the Clean Air Branch.
Del Monte has an agriculture burning permit to burn waste generated from its fields from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, including weekends, she said.
Even though people complain about the smell and sight of the smoke, the Health Department regulates only "visible smoke affecting people," Young said. That means smoke going into homes, businesses, public roads, beaches or any area in which the public has unrestricted access.
"People can smell it, but the visible smoke dissipates before it hits the homes," Young said of the current burn.
Fire Capt. Richard Soo said the Honolulu Fire Department is aware of the ongoing burn but that the Health Department is the lead agency in such matters. Del Monte's permit is on file with HFD, and Del Monte notifies the Fire Alarm Bureau prior to each burn, as required by the permit.
Del Monte regularly burns off its fields, with a permit good for one year that can be renewed every year, Young said.
She said the department hadn't received complaints about the burning for "a long time" until recently, and speculated that the current burn area must be directly in line with Makakilo when the wind blows. Most of the complaints have been about the weekend burning, she said. The department has been referring complaints to Del Monte, at 621-1221.
Because of the complaints, Del Monte will consider not burning on weekends, a spokesman said.
"This may then necessitate slightly larger burns during the week," he said.
"We are always considerate of the public and will review what we are doing, but hope they can be understanding of our efforts to minimize impact, but also the current need (to burn)."
In general, Young explained, agriculture burning permits are issued only to "legitimate farming businesses," which must provide a map of the burn areas, location of homes, businesses, schools, etc., direction of prevailing winds, how much will be burned, and so forth.
Burning trash or other products not generated from crop cultivation at the burn site is not allowed. Also, burning at certain "no-burn" periods is not allowed.
The permits specify that "only controllable amounts shall be burned and under conditions that will minimize visible smoke" bothering the public.
Mahalo
I went to City Mill in Hawaii Kai hoping to find a flag pole and that little piece of hardware that holds the pole. City Mill was all out of that little thingamajig, but wonderful, helpful Kimo and another salesman, whose name I failed to get, picked out some hardware, four screws, two eye bolts, cut a couple pieces of PVC pipe, drilled a couple of holes in the pipe, glued the hardware together and sent me home to put up my flag. The flag that covered my father's coffin is now flying proudly on that pole! I just love it, and I bet my dad does, too! -- Mary Spero
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