Kawaihae Fire on August 2015 threatened Kailapa, located further back (north) in the photo.
The August Kawaihae fire was one of the more recent wildfire scares Kailapa Hawaiian Homestead has endured over the years. With wildfire fresh on the mind of residents in the tight-knit Kawaihae community, HWMO's Pablo Beimler was welcomed as a guest speaker at their Annual Meeting on Saturday, January 23rd. Over 20 residents were present to hear Pablo speak about how HWMO could offer assistance for the community to protect them from wildfire threats. Pablo handed out a number of informational tools including Ready, Set, Go! Action Guides and Firewise Native Plant Bookmarks.
Along with a preliminary discussion on the possibility of making Kailapa a Firewise Community, Pablo also collected wildfire concerns from the community members. Their top concerns were:
1) Notification of wildfires/communication with response agencies
2) Emergency access (only one ingress/egress)
3) Lack of water for irrigation
4) Archaeological site protection during fire response
We're excited about the endless partnership opportunities there are with Kailapa Community Association and we want to mahalo the community for inviting us to come speak and start an important discussion about wildfire protection.