Chopper crash on
Kauai starts brush fire
BARKING SANDS, Kauai >> A helicopter crop-duster crashed around noon yesterday in an area mauka of the main gate at the Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility, setting off a large brush fire.
The Kauai Fire Department said the pilot walked away from the crash and refused medical treatment.
Battalion Chief Bob Kaden said the helicopter, which was spraying herbicides on Gay & Robinson sugar fields, hit a power line that was not energized, but several other hot wires fell into dry brush, causing the fire that spread over about 25 acres.
Five fire and rescue trucks from Waimea, Hanapepe and Lihue responded, as well as a two crash firetrucks from the Navy base. The Fire Department's rescue helicopter Air One and a Navy helicopter were called in for water drops.
Kaden said the terrain was so rugged that most of the firefighting was done by Gay & Robinson workers using bulldozers to cut firebreaks.
