A wildfire in Central Oʻahu has grown to cover 1.7 square miles in a remote mountainous area and has burned native koa and ʻōhiʻa trees, officials said. The fire started early Monday morning in Mililani Mauka.
No structures or homes were threatened and no evacuations were ordered.
Multiple helicopters from the Honolulu Fire Department, the U.S. Army National Guard, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services continued to drop buckets of water on the blaze Thursday.
The Army National Guard also deployed a CH-47 Chinook helicopter capable of carrying up to 2,000 gallons of water.
Mililani and Wahiawā are the towns closest to the flames, but they weren't at risk. Army installations Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Army Airfield are also in the area, which is about 20 miles north of Honolulu.
Video footage shot by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources showed white and brown smoke rising from green forests. Black and grey patches covered already scorched hillsides.
Firefighters battled flames from the air because the terrain is rough and inaccessible.
The fire was moving east on the ridge above Waikakalaua Stream and was 30% contained on Thursday, the HFD said in a news release.
The HFD said it is investigating the cause of the fire. The state Department of Health's Clean Air Branch is monitoring air quality.
The fire burned through heavy timber and native vegetation, the state said.
Hawaiʻi's tropical forests evolved without experiencing frequent fires and flames aren't a part of their natural life cycle.
Invasive plants often grow on burned lands, which increases the risk of future wildfires, according to a 2013 state action plan for koa forests. The report said climate change was expected to worsen Hawaiʻi's wildfire problem.
Oʻahu is currently going through a dry spell even though the winter rainy season began in October. The U.S. Drought Monitor said Central Oʻahu was in moderate drought as of last week.
In August, multiple wildfires erupted on Maui including a blaze that killed at least 99 people and destroyed more than 2,000 structures in Lāhainā. Powerful winds related to a hurricane passing far to Hawaiʻi’s south helped fuel that fire and prevented firefighters from using helicopters to tackle the flames.
This is a developing story.
