GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Honolulu firefighters made their way up a hill near Makua Valley Wednesday afternoon to mop up a large brush fire.

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Malama Makua set
to make site visit

The Army says that cultural
sites went unscathed in a fire

A group of Leeward Oahu residents who want the Army to stop using Makua Valley as a live-fire range will be allowed into the area tomorrow.

The visit by Malama Makua comes only three days after a brush fire scorched 300 acres in the valley.

Capt. Juanita Chang, Army spokeswoman, said the half-day visit was planned months ago. The periodic visits are part of an October 2001 out-of-court settlement between Malama Makua and the Army.

Under the agreement brokered by Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, the Army is allowed to train in the valley as long as it completes an environmental impact statement. In return, Malama Makua was granted limited visitation privileges each month and will be allowed to have its members observe what the Army does in the valley.

Wednesday's brush fire started "at the very back" of the 4,190-acre training range, which the Army has used since the 1920s, Chang said. It is the first fire in two years, and it remains under investigation. However, the Army has ruled out arson or foul play.

Nine Army inspectors, including a federal firefighter, surveyed the valley yesterday. Chang said the Army's cultural and historical specialists also were included in the survey to determine if any of the valley's 41 historical and cultural sites and more than 150 historical features were damaged. The Army believes high winds kept the blaze away from these areas.

Chang said the winds were so strong that the blaze "wiped through" the valley, barely touching some areas. Rainfall Wednesday night also helped keep things in control. The blaze was reported at 12:50 p.m. Wednesday and was contained within three hours.

Chang said the Army wants to resume live-fire exercises in Makua late this fall.

The Army can conduct no more than a dozen live-fire exercises annually, with no more than 200 soldiers each time. Chang said each training cycle needs court approval.

Makua Valley's last major fire occurred on July 22, 2003, when winds fanned what was supposed to be a "controlled burn."

The Army had planned on burning only 500 acres of brush to clear it of ordnance and create easier access to cultural and historical sites, but it was unable to control the blaze, which destroyed nearly 2,200 acres.