200-acre Schofield
burn planned
Army fire specialists are scheduled next week to conduct a prescribed burn of about 200 acres of the West Range Training Area of Schofield Barracks.
Depending on the weather, the burning might begin Monday but could last until Friday. Actual burning will be conducted between the hours of 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Such burns are part of the U.S. Army Hawaii's overall plan to manage range areas, decrease the danger of wild fires, conduct clearance of unexploded ordnance and provide access for cultural surveys.
Such fires have been controversial.
Last July, the Army started a controlled burn of 500 acres of brush in Makua Valley to clear unexploded ordnance and create easier access to cultural sites. Two days later the fire, fueled by changing winds, had destroyed more than 2,100 acres of the 4,190-acre area. It even crossed Farrington Highway and burned about 10 acres of public land near the beach.
That fire raised the anger of environmentalists concerned about endangered plant and animal species. Environmentalists also complained that the brush fire revealed the inadequacies of the Army's fire-management plan.
In June 1995 another controlled burn at Makua got out of control and charred 2,400 acres.
The area the Army plans to burn at Schofield is referred to as either McCarthy Flats or the West Range. It lies north of Kolekole and Trimble roads and west of the Maile Terrace Kolekole Ridge and Hendrickson Heights military housing areas. That same area was burned last June and is scheduled for another burn in July.