Firefighters battled a brush fire yesterday that started along the eastern ridge above Waianae Valley Road.
Another Waianae Valley
fire threatens homes
No one is evacuated in the area’s
second fire of the summer
Firefighters stopped a Leeward brush fire from advancing toward homes yesterday as they fought the blaze on two sides of a Waianae Valley ridge.
It was the second time this summer that residents on Kawili Street off Lualualei Homestead Road saw a line of fire come close to their homes. No buildings were burned.
About 70 firefighters fought the fire that began on the makai side of a cemetery on Waianae Valley Road, said fire Capt. Emmit Kane. The fire was reported at 3:40 p.m. and was considered contained on both sides of the slope by 5:45 p.m. It burned about 60 acres of brush, he said.
After it traveled over the ridge, the fire advanced to the property line of one homeowner, where a rock wall served as a buffer, Kane said.
Kawili Street resident Tony Delicata estimated the fire was stopped more than 100 feet from his home, while a July 7 fire got within 30 feet of homes and residents prepared for evacuation.
"This time, the guys were up there right away," Delicata said. "This is a very difficult piece of land to reach. The firemen had to scale a sheer rock slope 15 feet high to get hose up there. It's kind of terraced, just a miserable slope. I give them credit."
Firefighters worked to contain a brush fire above Waianae Valley Road yesterday as an HFD helicopter dumped a load of water, left, onto smoldering embers.
Allen said she was scared and ran inside to call 911. She then ran back out to shoot water over the fence.
Allen and her boyfriend have complained to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to keep the brush trimmed, which it has. But kiawe tree branches continue to hang over their fence into their yard.
Neighbor Michael Ligsay, 22, said he smelled fire, and "next thing you know, had fire coming over the mountain." He grabbed a garden hose and sprayed the brush and moved his dogs that are kept in the back yard.
Ligsay estimated the fire was 20 yards from his back yard.
"He was calling me, screaming, 'We have to get out,'" said his grandmother, Thelma Ligsay.
Residents said police told them to be prepared for possible evacuation, but no one was evacuated.
"Whoever setting the fires, they don't realize they're too close," she said. "They're jeopardizing homes and people's lives."
Grave markers of plantation workers are visible behind the Waianae Valley Road home of Lee Peneku, 45.
Peneku said that as a youth he played on the mountainside now blackened by the fire, where he said other graves are located. "I'm pretty sure some of the graves got damaged," he said.
On Kawili Street, Delicata said his family prepares to evacuate whenever there is a fire. "We have routine down good. It took us 20 minutes to gather the dogs, set up their cages and get everything ready to go."
He said his children, ages 6 and 9, "get very, very disturbed. They have trouble sleeping for three or five days after it."
Kane said firefighters fought hot spots until dark and would post a fire watch overnight.
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