Kaʻena Community Wildfire Preparedness Day

The volunteer group taking a tour of a recent burn at Kaʻena State Park. Credit - Dawn Bruns, US Fish and Wildlife Service

“Did you know that 9 out of 10 wildfire are caused by people and could have been prevented? In fact, wildland fires consume hundreds of homes across the nation annually, and Hawaii is at a similar risk.”

As part of National Community Wildfire Preparedness Day on May 6 (and a month of activities the rest of the month of May), DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife and Hawaii State Parks co-sponsored a volunteer event at Kaʻena State Park. Jaime Raduenzel of U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii’s Oʻahu Cultural Resources Program and Dietra Myers-Tremblay of DLNR DOFAW gave presentations to enlighten volunteers about fire protection resources, wildfire readiness, invasive vegetation that fuels wildfires, and drought-tolerant Firewise plants. The volunteers also got to take a tour of the site, “a sacred and fragile coastal dune ecosystem, home to many native coastal plants and animals that could not be found anywhere else in the world.” They then created defensible space around the perimeter of the new Kaʻena Point Baseyard and hiked out to a recent burn. 

WILDFIRE PREP MONTH CONTEST WINNER!

A job well done, clearing defensible space around the base-yard on Community Wildfire Prep Day. Credit - Dawn Bruns, US Fish and Wildlife Service

Organizers of the event thank Professor Mindy McDermott and her Chaminade University BI 110 People and Nature students for their huge showing at the event. 

“I’m very excited about the future plans to restore areas of Ka'ena Point.  Fun!” - Dawn Bruns, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Flyer for the event

Kaʻena Point Community Wildfire Preparedness Day

Creating defensible space around the baseyard. Credit: Dawn Bruns / US Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Did you know that 9 out of 10 wildfire are caused by people and could have been prevented? In fact, wildland fires consume hundreds of homes across the nation annually, and Hawaii is at a similar risk.”

Touring the site of the recent burn.

As part of National Community Wildfire Preparedness Day on May 6 (and a month of activities the rest of the month of May), DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) and Division of State Parks (DSP) co-sponsored a volunteer event at Kaʻena State Park. Jaime Raduenzel of RCUH-PCSU, DLNR DOFAW and DSP, and Dietra Myers Tremblay of DLNR DOFAW gave presentations to enlighten volunteers about fire protection resources, wildfire readiness, invasive vegetation that fuels wildfires, and drought-tolerant Firewise plants. The volunteers also had the opportunity to take a tour of the site, “a sacred and fragile coastal dune ecosystem, home to many native coastal plants and animals that could not be found anywhere else in the world.” They then created defensible space around the perimeter of the new Kaʻena Point Baseyard and hiked out to a recent burn. 

Organizers of the event thank Professor Mindy McDermott and her Chaminade University BI 110 People and Nature students for their huge showing at the event. 

“I’m very excited about the future plans to restore areas of Ka'ena Point.  Fun!” - Dawn Bruns, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Flyer for the event courtesy of DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife and Hawaiʻi State Parks.

Make A Difference Day 2016

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WVA Board President, Amy Swan, endures the high winds of Waikoloa to clear debris from the garden.

On October 22, people from all across the country participated in Make A Difference Day, a day of unity and service that has occurred annually since 1992. Volunteers really do make the world go round. 

Waikoloa played host to a Make A Difference Day service event at the Waikoloa Dryland Wildfire Safety Park. HWMO, Waikoloa Village, and Waikoloa Village Fire Management Action Committee worked together to beautify the Firewise demonstration garden on what turned out to be a very windy day. That did not stop volunteers, including the village association’s president, Amy Swan, from picking up leaves and caring for the native Firewise plants at the garden. 

Join our e-newsletter if you want to get involved with future HWMO volunteer events or go to our Upcoming Events page.

Kanehoa Wildfire Prep Day Firewise Event

As part of a nationwide effort, Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization (HWMO) is working with its partners statewide to launch Wildfire Preparedness Month for the month of May. On May 7th, National Community Wildfire Preparedness Day, communities across the U.S. held action days to prepare their neighborhoods for wildfire. 

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Kanehoa subdivision, located off of Kawaihae Road halfway between Kawaihae and Waimea, held a community-wide Wildfire Preparedness Day event on the morning of May 7th. Two dozen community members joined the Wildfire Preparedness Day efforts in Kanehoa to remove enough haole koa (or ekoa) to fill-to-the-brim an entire large dumpster within a few hours. Ekoa is known to be an extreme fire hazard due to its high flammability and potential to create embers that can spot additional fires or ignite homes from miles away. 

The community members broke off into teams and removed ekoa from the sides of the roads within the subdivision, greatly reducing the wildfire threat by ensuring the roads can act as a fuelbreak to slow the spread of wildfire. 

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Before ekoa removal on roadside.

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After ekoa removal on roadside.

The idea for the event sprouted from a Firewise Community Hazard Assessment that HWMO and its partners from Hawaii Fire Department conducted for the subdivision as part of a Firewise certification effort for the community. 

Throughout 2015, HWMO worked closely with Kanehoa to assist them in their effort to become a nationally-recognized Firewise Community. Residents in Kanehoa put in countless volunteer hours and dollar match to ensure their homes’ ignition risk was reduced. As a result of their hard work, Kanehoa became the second Firewise Community in the State of Hawaii. HWMO held a brief ceremony at the end of the May 7th work day to officially recognize the community for its significant achievement towards wildfire readiness. 

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Team photo of Kanehoa Firewise volunteers who made Wildfire Prep Day a great success.

All of us at Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization are very proud of the work the Kanehoa community has contributed towards reducing the wildfire threat in their area and we hope more communities will follow their lead. You can be a part of an amazing movement on any given day by gathering your family, friends, and neighbors for preparedness activities that range from evacuation planning to flammable vegetation removal. 

Waimea Youth Wildfire Prep Team

In August of this year, a 4,000-plus acre wildfire threatened a number of homes and businesses in the Kawaihae area. Nearly a week later, heavy rainfall swept the exposed, loose, post-fire soil and debris through stream channels and roads, creating flash flood conditions that caused further evacuations. The clear connection between wildfires, flooding, and smothering of coral reefs during the event led us to create a YouTube video titled: Kawaihae Fire and Flood - Mauka to Makai Impacts. 

Although the current El Niño brought Hawaii a wet summer, very dry conditions are forecasted this winter. Drought during past El Niños has led to some of Hawaii’s largest wildfires on both windward and leeward sides. The next Kawaihae fire could be right around the corner.

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Youth Wildfire Prep Team from Waimea Middle School. From left to right: Zakahry Murakami-Mattos, Jamin-Quinn Lee Rillanos, Zariah River, Kawehi Bell-Kaopuiki. 

With the recent wildfires and El Niño predictions in mind, HWMO assembled a group of five enthusiastic students from Waimea Middle School who were eager to complete a community wildfire prevention or preparedness project. Kyren Martins, Zakahry Murakami-Mattos, Kawehi Bell-Kaopuiki, Zariah Rivera, and Jamin-Quinn Lee Rillanos joined the Youth Wildfire Prep Team in November, working on projects they developed and executed on their own. Mr. Martins and Mr. Rillanos each created their own wildfire prevention signs; Mr. Murakami-Mattos is currently creating a “good versus bad defensible space” video; and Ms. Bell-Kaopuiki and Ms. Rivera teamed up to remove flammable plant debris from the Mālaʻai Culinary Garden. 

The action team was originally inspired by a National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) national call to action for youth from ages 13 to 22. Students from around the country were urged to implement their own wildfire prevention or preparedness project between September 1st and November 15th with the chance of being selected as a $500 “TakeAction” community service funding award recipient.

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Kyren Martins, one of ten national TakeAction community service funding award recipients. 

HWMO is pleased to announce that Mr. Martins was selected as one of ten national recipients. Mr. Martins, whose family was directly affected by the Kawaihae fire and subsequent floods in August, made and installed a wildfire prevention sign at the edge of his home, which is visible from the road. Kyren’s message about preventing cigarette ignitions alongside the road will certainly have an impact considering a number of people drive by their home everyday. Mr Martins has elected to use the reward for future educational costs.

Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization thanks the Youth Wildfire Prep Team for their enthusiasm, hard work, and overall commitment to helping protect their community from the growing threat of wildfire. HWMO also congratulates Mr. Martins for receiving the national award. We plan to work with other students throughout the state on similar projects, using Waimea’s Prep Team as a model for future collaborations.

Wildfire Prep Day 2015

For the 2nd straight year, communities from across the nation gathered together to take action to reduce the wildfire hazards in their neighborhoods. We joined in on the national effort by organizing our second Wildfire Prep Day event at the Waikoloa Dryland Wildfire Safety Park next to the community pool in Waikoloa on May 2nd. Within three hours of the morning, we were able to accomplish quite a lot with our partners and community members, working towards the goals of having a heightened wildfire awareness and a well-developed preparedness skill set. 

The event started off with a few words from our Board president, Mike Tomich, highlighting the need for wildfire preparedness in the most fire-prone area in the State of Hawaiʻi. This was not new news to many of the event's visitors, who had experienced some of the largest fires in history first-hand. 

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HWMO President (on left) Mike Tomich talks about importance of wildfire preparedness.

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Nice, sunny day with moderate windy conditions - practicing situational awareness or "Set" of the Ready, Set, Go! Program

Following the opening speech, we held a Firefighter Meet-and-Greet where community members and keiki were able to explore the wonders of the fire engine and ambulance on hand. Hawaii Fire Department firefighters gave tours of the apparatuses and even let the kids get their hands on the steering wheel (though with ignition off, of course!) 

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Keiki learn the ins and outs of firefighting equipment from local HFD firefighters.

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Future fire engine operator?

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Waikoloa CERT members soak in the sun.

After the tours, people were able to interact with members from Waikoloa CERT, National Fire Protection and Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative, who all set-up booths for the event. We also had a Keiki Craft Corner where kids were able to color in new Kaleo the Pueo art and create wildfire prevention signs. 

The second half of the event focused attention on the Firewise demo garden. Tom Loomis, Garden Manager and Firewise teacher extraordinaire, led a group of keiki through a Firewise Plant Game Show. While Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative's Jess held a plant in hand, Tom described the plant to the keiki to help them determine whether a plant was a good Firewise plant, a neutral one, or a bad one. The keiki translated these into smiley faces on their score cards. We showed them a variety of plants including "happy face" plants like ʻaʻaliʻi, ʻilima oʻahu, and kuluʻī; "neutral face" plants like dill and ʻawa; and "sad face" plants like pepper tree and pili grass. The students were spot-on with their landscaping decisions, knowing that plants that were drought-tolerant, native, and wind-resistant were the best candidates for becoming part of our Firewise garden.

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Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative's Jess holds a sandalwood (ʻiliahi) during the Firewise Plant Game Show.

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Getting a feel for kuluʻī and its heat-resistant silvery leaves.

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Local HFD firefighters help plant various native plants like kuluʻī in our Firewise garden.

This led us into the final segment of the preparedness day event: a native planting volunteer session. Firefighters, keiki, CERT members, and others took part in getting their hands dirty (and rocky) by planting 75+ native plants to demonstrate how easy and enjoyable planting natives in the garden could be.

Wildfire Prep Day was a huge success nationally and here at the local level. We thank all of our amazing partners for their support of the event: Hawaii Fire Department, Waikoloa CERT, Waikoloa Firewise Committee, Waikoloa Village Association, Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative, National Fire Protection, and National Fire Protection Agency. 

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Getting silly with our amazing partners and volunteers!

Ocean Warriors (Group B) Waikoloa Garden Cleanup Afternoon

In an ongoing effort to teach middle school students the importance of being prepared far in advance of wildfire season, we took the first of three groups of Ocean Warriors students to the Waikoloa Dryland Wildfire Safety Park for a garden cleanup afternoon. The Ocean Warriors after-school program, part of the Malama Kai Foundation, is an experiential youth program for local middle school students that engages them in "coastal stewardship and protection." We consider the students "stewards of the garden" - the afternoon event was these students' first volunteer action at the garden.

Last month, we introduced the students to the wildfire issue in Hawaii and about the Ready, Set, Go! Program that touts creating defensible space as one of many important ways to be prepared for a wildfire. The students put the core concept into action by helping tend to the demo garden that has taken off with the recent rain events. A great number of the plants that have "taken off" are native, drought-tolerant plants that can help protect one's home from wildfire. A number of non-native weeds such as the never-dying bougainvillea did grow, as well. Students grabbed gloves and hand trowels and set out to take these pesky weeds out of the garden. In addition, they also collected leaves blown-over from a neighboring non-native invasive tree and placed them in trash bags.

Our garden manager, Tom Loomis also chipped in by sawing off the lower branches of the pepper trees on the property to 10 feet off the ground in accordance to Firewise principles. In just a couple of hours, the students managed to beautify the garden while also protecting it from the threat of wildfire. We hope their actions will inspire you to take action on your own home. Find out more of what you can do here: http://hawaiiwildfire.org/ready-set-go2.html.

In April, we will be collaborating with the program for their end-of-the-year showcase where the students will present, in a creative fashion, what they have learned this year (including about wildfire) to the community. Stay tuned for information on the exact date and time of the event!

Banner photo: Ocean Warrior students dig deep for weeds at the Waikoloa Dryland Wildfire Safety Park.

Wildfire Preparedness Day - Waikoloa Dryland Wildfire Safety Park 2014

May 3rd was the first ever National Wildfire Preparedness Day! Communities from across the nation rallied to hold events to help raise wildfire awareness, promote collaboration and bring neighbors together to work on projects that protect homes, neighborhoods and entire communities.

HWMO organized a day of fire preparedness fun and festivities at the Waikoloa Dryland Wildfire Safety Park in Waikoloa Village on Melia Street. HWMO partnered with Hawaii Fire Department, Waikoloa Community Association, Waikoloa Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative, and Malama Kai Foundation to put on the event. 

As part of our prevention efforts, we created the first and only fire preparedness demonstration garden in Hawaii. The Waikoloa Dryland Wildfire Safety Park demonstrates how to reduce the impacts of wildfires through defensible space, Firewise landscaping and fire resistant building materials. This garden is primarily made up of low-maintenance, native Hawaiian species that are resistant to drought, wind, and heat. The garden also exhibits Firewise principles including various landscaping techniques and maintenance guidelines for zones around the home: 10 ft., 30 ft., and 100+ ft. 

The event kicked off with a garden tour led by an Ocean Warriors student, followed by opening speeches from Hawaii Fire Department's Chief Darren Rosario, HWMO's Vice President Sam Patten, and HWMO's Executive Director Elizabeth Pickett. The crowd continued to grow as the opening ceremony progressed as more families arrived. To add to the excitement, Hawaii Fire Department's firefighters arrived in an ambulance and fire truck, segueing into the next activity: tours of the apparatuses. A dozen or so keiki met with firefighters to learn about the ins-and-outs of being a firefighter and the cool tools and devices they get to use. There were waves of smiles from the keiki, who were brimming from the excitement of such a unique opportunity to connect with the firefighting community. 

Following the firefighter meet-and-greet, the crowd gathered in the garden and began to plant the 230+ native dryland plants (including 'ihi, pohinahina, and 'ilima papa) that HWMO hauled in for the event. With the incredible help from our community members, we were able to plant each and every start in the garden - 230+ plants in under two hours of planting! 

After the plantings, the crowd moved under the tents for a craft event - Ocean Warriors, Future Foresters, and other keiki helpers designed and painted signs with wildfire prevention messages that will eventually be placed around the Waikoloa community. During the session, people grabbed delicious, organic Thai food, smoothies, and gelato from Lotus Cafe, who had set up a tent for the event. The event concluded with short talks by Jen Lawson of the Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative, who explained the importance of restoring the native dry forest, and the Waikoloa CERT team, who ran through evacuation protocols and routes.

On behalf of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and State Farm® Insurance, we received a $500 funding award for the event. The contest for the award was extremely competitive, spanning over 25 states - only 20 out of 84 projects were selected. This was a testament to how much progress has been made in adding Hawaii's wildfire issues to the national radar screen and how much more integrated Hawaii is in nationwide and Pacific-wide wildfire mitigation efforts.

We'd like to send out a special thank you to NFPA and State Farm®, Lotus Cafe, our dedicated partners, and the enthusiastic community members who made Wildfire Preparedness Day a wonderful success! Mahalo!

Another thanks to West Hawaii Today for covering the event on the front page of the Sunday paper!

Read the article:
http://westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/helping-mother-nature-fight-fires-native-plant-landscapes-and-other-fire-resistant 

Banner photo: Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative's Future Foresters, Waikoloa CERT, Malama Kai Foundation's Ocean Warriors, and Hawaii Fire Department team up with HWMO for the event.

Waikoloa Garden Community Work Morning

Sparked by enthusiastic, willing-to-work community members from Waikoloa Village, we held a work morning at our Waikoloa Dryland Wildfire Safety Park at the end of Melia Pl. The most recent rain events have spurred our native plants to run wild and even blossom, creating a dynamic ecosystem that mirrors that of the Waikoloa Dry Forest Preserve. Native plants such as 'Ihi, 'Ilima papa, 'Ulei, and Pohinahina are in full bloom and are definitely worth checking out. These native, drought-tolerant plants are not only worth planting for their beauty, but can also provide a living fuelbreak around your home.

Where and when there is rain, however, there is other not so desirable growth. Community members have taken note of recent weedy arrivals and asked if they could help remove them. We could always use the help and gladly responded by holding a Community Work Morning. Our team of volunteers received some pointers on which weeds to pull out, as some of the "weeds" were actually native to Hawaii. During such hard work, we were all still able to share stories about wildfires experienced in Hawaii and the mainland. 

Monte Anglin, one of the volunteers and a resident near the garden explained what the Waikoloa Dryland Wildfire Safety Park means to him: 

“It is really great to see some native plants and growth be developed and maintained anywhere in the state, but especially here in the dry area of Waikoloa. It’s just amazing. And the people that did the concept and tore out the old, messy, ugly stuff that was here a couple of years ago really need to be commended for the foresight and the energy to come forth and do this. I really appreciate it.”

Banner photo: Tom Loomis, HWMO Garden Manager (Left) and Pablo Beimler, HWMO Education & Outreach Coordinator (Right) pose with Waikoloa Village volunteers after a hard morning's work.

Volcano Community Fire Fuels Reduction Day

HWMO supports at-risk communities in responsible fire-fuels reduction and removal. Fire-fuels and green waste are often disposed incorrectly, if at all, causing real fire hazards near homes and ecosystems. Recently, HWMO’s Elizabeth Pickett met with the Volcano Community to organize an HWMO-sponsored Fire-Fuels Reduction Day that included a chipper for mulching fire-prone and dangerous snags and treefall. Special thanks to Jim Gail and John Lyle for helping coordinate the day!

Banner photo: Volcano community members properly dispose of greenwaste by chipping vegetation into mulch that will actually be used to mitigate fire!