RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM Cars passed burning brush along Farrington Highway past Kalaeloa yesterday. A large brush fire in the area consumed about 400 acres by 9 p.m.

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Leeward brush fire
may be arson

The flames force the evacuation
of homes around Honokai Hale

A brush fire that may have been deliberately set threatened dozens of homes in Honokai Hale, Nanakai Gardens and Ko Olina yesterday.

Firefighters were able to keep the fast-moving fire from damaging any homes, but it had consumed 400 acres by 9 p.m. and was still not under control.

About 150 residents of Fairways townhomes at the Ko Olina resort were evacuated for about an hour yesterday afternoon by resort management, said fire department spokesman Capt. Kenison Tejada.

"It looked somebody wen' dropped a bomb. It was unreal," said Wayne Salvador, who has lived on Malahuna Loop for 15 years.

The family home backs up to brushlands mauka of Ko Olina. Salvador was keeping watch on the fire from the rooftop, while his mother and other relatives visited in the carport below.

The fire started about 3:30 p.m. and was fanned by strong winds. Police closed and reopened the H-1 freeway and Farrington Highway several times during the afternoon as flames approached the road.

Tejada said police are handling the investigation into the cause of the fire.

"Some witnesses talked to the police and said they had seen somebody stop by the road and throw something into the bushes" shortly before the fire was reported, Tejada said.

Even as firefighters were battling the Honokai Hale fire, two other fires broke out.

One fire in Ewa on Hoopio Street, near Fort Weaver Road, burned close to homes there. That fire was reported at 4:45 p.m. and under control at 5:38 p.m. About two acres burned.

Another fire broke out in Waipahu near the H-1 freeway at 4:26 p.m., but was quickly brought under control.

As many as 80 Honolulu firefighters were to work into the night to try to contain the Honokai Hale blaze, Tejada said.

At 7:30 p.m., a large swath of land between Farrington Highway and Barbers Point Harbor lay blackened. A line of fire was visible between Ko Olina and Kapolei in the twilight.

One firefighter was taken from the Honokai Hale fire in an ambulance yesterday, but Tejada didn't know the extent of his injury or whether it was related to the fire.

Residents returning home to Honokai Hale were kept out of the neighborhood while firetrucks were active with fire hoses.

Joe Danao, who lives on Laaloa Street a few hundred yards from where the fire was stopped, was working at his construction job in Waikiki when the fire started. By the time he got home to check on his 79-year-old mother, who was home alone, the danger appeared to have passed, he said.

Laaloa Street resident Robert Awai was watering his front yard at 6 p.m., after spending the past couple of hours in the backyard, "keeping an eye on it." He said firefighters did an excellent job at turning back the flames and he never felt directly threatened.

On Paakai Street, family and friends who had gathered for a birthday party took time out to spray the yard with garden hoses before the firefighters arrived.

"We like party, but we like live too," Cindy Sun said.

Gilbert Rodrigues said it seemed like a half-hour to an hour before firefighters were there.

Tejada said response times may have been longer in some areas, because firefighters were coming from a number of stations.

A total of 14 engines, four tankers, a helicopter, and 70 to 80 personnel fought the Honokai Hale fire, Tejada said.