HWMO Blog — Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization

local fires

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Paauilo Mauka and Kalopa CA Annual Gathering

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HWMO’s Pablo Beimler met with Paauilo Mauka and Kalopa Community Association (PMKCA) members twice during the month of July. On July 14th, Pablo proposed to the PMKCA Board the possibility of partnering to help the area become a Firewise Community. It would certainly be a unique opportunity, given the community’s location on the wetter side of Hawaii Island along the Hamakua Coast. 

Paauilo volunteer firefighter shares an update on new resources including new radios.

Although the Paauilo Mauka and Kalopa area receives an average of 100 or more inches of rain a year, drought conditions can create dangerous wildfire conditions that have led to some historic fires in the past. 

Joe Clarkson, President of the PMKCA, noted in a recent Hamakua Times post:

“After a severe drought in 1901, several large fires broke out in Hamakua, affecting areas from ‘O’okala to Kalopa. The following excerpt from P. Quentin Tomich’s Perspectives on Hamakua History describes the effects of these fires-

…the first fire started on 3 July in lands of a Niupea homesteader, and spread through several coffee plantations as well as into government lease lands. Thence the fire branched into cane lands of ‘O’okala and Ka’ala…, Kuka’iau and Koholalele…

A second fire started on homesteads in Pohakea and spread to lots in Ka’apahu. A third blaze, largest in area, began in Ka’ohe and was traced to careless honey hunters smoking out bees… It destroyed much coffee and cane land and burned out only when it reached the broad gorge of Kalopa Gulch.

It should be noted that the burned areas included dense rainforest above ‘O’okala to elevations of 4,500 feet, an area and type of forest that most folks would now think impossible to catch on fire. But it was observed at the time that there was “complete destruction of former existing tropical forest and great injury to soil by the depth (over six feet) to which the fire had penetrated”.

Part of our mission is to ensure intense wildfires like impact communities as little as possible. Pablo gave a presentation to 40 PMKCA members on July 30th at the North Hawaii Education and Research Center in Honokaa. He gave a brief overview about the Firewise Communities program and how HWMO could assist the community in working towards Firewise Recognition and overall wildfire readiness.

PMKCA is a step ahead in terms of community emergency response as they now have a new CERT trailer.

“Just imagine,” said Joe Clarkson, “the fire potential of thousands of acres of eucalyptus plantations (including harvest areas full of debris and tall grass), fallow guinea grass range land, forests of ironwood and gulch jungles of dead rose apple and waiwi, all desiccated by months of severe drought.

In addition to the 1901 drought, severe drought, with accompanying fires, affected Hamakua in the early and middle 1960s, with the 1965 drought being exceptionally extreme. It has been decades since a really severe drought has affected Hamakua, but one can and will happen, we just don’t know when.”

Banner photo credit: Island Friend/Flickr

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Kahikinui Fire 2016 Post-Burn Site Visit with LHWRP

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20 miles, or 40 minutes, of driving distance from the nearest fire station requires a different kind of thinking when it comes to wildfire preparedness. That is exactly what Kahikinui residents on Maui constantly have in mind given they are in a very fire prone and hazardous region. Just within the past decade or so, the community has experienced 5 major wildfires, most recently in February of this year. The recent wildfire burned right to the edge of homes, scalding 5,300 acres in its path. A month later, a flareup of the fire led firefighting efforts up into the difficult-to-access mauka forests. Road access, given the topography and limited infrastructure in Kahikinui, made for a challenging firefight. 

Getting ready for a bumpy ride through the scorched landscape.

Clay Trauernicht of UH CTAHR Cooperative Extension/PFX (middle) ground-truths wildfire intensity maps.

On June 29th, Leeward Haleakala Watershed Restoration Partnership invited Pablo Beimler (HWMO), Melissa Kunz (HWMO/PFX), and Clay Trauernicht (UH Coop Extension, CTAHR) on a site visit of the recent burn. LHWRP’s Andrea Buckman and Keahi Bustamante, who have worked together in the area for numerous years, led everyone on a bumpy ride through the burned areas. What they saw was a scorched landscape from makai to up mauka that included torched fencelines, warped water tanks, toasted PVC irrigation lines, and scalded wiliwili trees. There are hundreds more wiliwili and other native plants in this biodiverse stretch of leeward Maui that the Leeward Haleakala Watershed Partnership and Kahikinui residents and businesses are working together to protect. 

Fenceposts, water tanks, and wiliwili trees among other infrastructure and native plants were scorched by the wildfire.

Even ferns within the wetter mauka gulches were burnt to a crisp.

The site visit was mostly a sneak preview for a late-July field tour PFX will host, inviting various agency and community stakeholders to join. Pablo was also able to collect initial information for the hazard assessment that HWMO will put together for Kahikinui community in their pursuit of becoming a Firewise Community this year. 

We met with community members after the tour and were humbled by the stories they had to share. Since the early '90s, the Hawaiian families that reclaimed DHHL land are working to revive their ancestral lands and live off the grid even in the face of the 5 major fires in the past decade or so. Their grit, perseverance, sense of community, and love for the aina will all be assets as they work to achieve Firewise Certification. Facing the challenges with wildfires in Kahikinui will require uniting all stakeholders, from neighboring ranches to fire agencies to the watershed partnership, for the common goal of creating a Fire Adapted Community.

Kahikinui Post-Fire Site Visit with LHWRP 6/29/16

Wildfire & Drought Look Out! Campaign Launch

With drought predicted to persist through the summer, an increase in wildfires is more than likely to follow. That’s way HWMO has teamed with a large list of government and non-government organizations across the state to launch the Wildfire & Drought Look Out! campaign, the first coordinated statewide wildfire outreach campaign in Hawaii’s history.

Pablo Beimler and Elizabeth Pickett flew to Oahu to join a press conference on May 13th to signify the official release of the campaign. Derek Wroe, NOAA National Weather Service, Rob Hauff, Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Captain David Jenkins, Honolulu Fire Department, and no other than Elizabeth Pickett spoke to a group of media from KHON, KITV4, HPR, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, and others. In the backdrop was the recently charred area right above homes in Nanakuli. 

Following the press conference, the media drove up to some of the homes along the fire’s edge with Honolulu Fire Department, HWMO, and other representatives. Captain Jenkins led the media around a couple of the homes to showcase the importance of creating defensible space far in advance of a wildfire.

Elizabeth Pickett (HWMO) speaks to media with Oahu firefighters standing behind her. In the background: the charred landscape of Nanakuli from the recent fire.

News reporters and Honolulu Fire Department talk with residents who experienced the fire first-hand and created defensible space far in advance of the fire.

For years, HWMO has made it a goal to have a statewide wildfire outreach campaign become a reality. We are excited to say that this goal become reality and will continue to grow moving forward. HWMO is being embraced as the hub of wildfire info for the state and all of our agency colleagues and fire suppression folks. “We started at Pu'u Wa'awa'a and Waikoloa and worked our way to assisting additional regions and islands with the vision of being useful and utilized in big ways at the state level, and this signifies exciting progress toward that,” says Elizabeth Pickett. 

Wildfire & Drought Look Out! Campaign Launch 5/13/16

The campaign is hosted on our website here: 

 

Special thanks to Dan Dennison for stepping up as an incredible coordinator of these efforts (and producing the above video) and of course to all of our partners involved in this momentous effort!

Tune in to our News Center for links on the press conference on the 13th and any new updates regarding Wildfire & Drought Look Out!

 

 

Kamaile Academy Wildfire Lessons

Pablo teaches students about the fire triangle and how each element plays a part in preventing wildfire.

The Nanakuli fire in March was the most recent scare for Waianae residents. Although no homes and lives were lost, thanks to the courageous efforts of our firefighters, the wildfire proved to be a frightening one for residents, including keiki.

On May 12th, Pablo Beimler, Community Outreach Coordinator for HWMO, was invited by Jamiel Saez, a FoodCorp representative for the school garden at Kamaile Academy, to speak to K-8 students about the importance of wildfire prevention and preparedness. Over 300 students flocked to the garden to tune-in to a brief, interactive presentation that included a fire triangle game to have students understand the core concepts of fire ecology. 

For the remainder of each class, the students played a game of fire tag. Most of the students began the game as their favorite native trees, usually koa or wiliwili, and were tasked with power-walking to the other side of the playing field. The catch: they had toavoid 3-4 students who were “wildfire” and could move about freely and tag any of the trees. Once a tree was tagged, they became a grass that could then ignite passer-bys on the next go around (grasses, however, had to stay “rooted” to where they were tagged by only being able to pivot). By the end of the game, most of the native forest became part of an extensive “grassland” - students could clearly see the transformation of the native ecosystem - something we call “Hawaii’s fire cycle.” 

Fire tag game: "native trees" try their best to avoid being tagged by "fire" students.

Why not have fun when learning about the fire cycle?

Kamaile students and visiting kumu build a hale in the garden.

It was also an important day for the school, culturally. Kumu from the Leeward Campus at University of Hawaii were invited by Jameil and school officials to help students build a hale at the garden. Pablo was graciously offered an incredibly beautiful lei as part of a blessing in which students led oli. It was quite a beautiful moment to be a part of and added a whole other level of excitement and significance to the day for HWMO.

Mahalo Jamiel and Kamaile Academy staff for sharing the beautiful garden as a space for us to teach the incredibly friendly and bright students!

Kamaile Academy Wildfire Lessons 5/12/16
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Waialea Firewise Community Hazard Assessment

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Over a decade ago, the residents of Waialea and HWMO began discussing the establishment of a living (or shaded) fuelbreak along the mauka edge of the community to increase fire protection for the homes in the subdivision. Since then, HWMO has worked on a number of projects with Waialea to ensure wildfires, which are common in the area, keep clear of their homes. In the past, wildfires have even burned down homes and structures in Waialea, something we hope will never happen again if the right measures are taken.

HWMO VP Sam Patten points out charred fire post from a previous wildfire that burned right up to homes in Waialea.

Waialea residents and homeowners walk along a fire access road that splits the living fuelbreak.

To keep Waialea residents safe, HWMO is working with Waialea to help them become one of the next Firewise communities, a recognition that Kanehoa subdivision recently received. As a major step towards Firewise certification, HWMO’s Pablo Beimler and Sam Patten joined a group of residents (and a contractor who will be tasked with thinning the living fuelbreak with HWMO’s funding) to walk around the neighborhood and assess the community’s wildfire risk. 

The group began the tour by taking a look at the current state of the living fuelbreak. Within the break, there are a number of native and drought-tolerant plants that were established years ago but the area is currently in need of some thinning. HWMO will be providing a $5000 grant to Waialea to remove the flammable vegetation within the break and thin the trees to reduce ladder fuels. 

Keeping tree branches away from the home along the fire-free zone can make a significant difference protecting it from wildfire.

We also visited a couple of homes to get a better sense for what the average home looks like in relation to the landscape. Owners of the homes took a number of precautions to make sure there was enough defensible space, including creating a fire-free zone 5 feet around the home, and that structures were fire-proofed, including using non-combustible roofing and enclosing eaves.

HWMO will be working on completing the assessment over the next few weeks, which will become a useful tool for Waialea to help them determine the next steps for becoming wildfire ready.

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CNH Wildland Fire Conference & PFX Field Tour to Kokee

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Every two to three years, Hawaii plays host to the California-Nevada-Hawaii Wildland Fire Conference. This year, the Garden Island of Kauai was the host of the conference that attracted fire experts from across the Hawaiian Islands and from California and Nevada. The three-day conference from April 12-15 at the Poipu Sheraton was a great way to share lessons learned from across the Pacific. 

Elizabeth Pickett, HWMO, shares information on Community Wildfire Protection Plan update for Kauai.

On the first day, Mayor Carvalho kicked off the proceedings with a rousing rendition of the U.S. National Anthem and Hawaii Ponoi. A number of speakers followed, touching on topics ranging from drought predictions (Derek Wroe, NWS) to local knowledge for effective fire management (Clay Trauernicht, University of Hawaii CTAHR) to native ecosystem restoration at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Rhonda Loh, NPS). Our very own Elizabeth Pickett gave a talk on HWMO's recent statewide CWPP and public education efforts. 

Representatives from the Wildland Fallen Firefighters Foundation gave a very moving talk to share about their amazing work to support firefighters and their families who are either recovering from injury or loss of life. 

The second day of the Conference was a field tour organized by Pacific Fire Exchange's Clay Trauernicht and the newest member of the HWMO/PFX team, Melissa Kunz. Patrick Porter, District Forestry Manager for Kauai Division of Forestry and Wildlife, helped lead the caravan up to Kokee, otherwise known as Waimea Canyon.

Elizabeth Pickett shares copies of community input from CWPP meetings.

Field tour attendees soak in the beauty of Waimea Canyon.

A group of a couple dozen conference attendees stopped at various view points and the site of the large 1,000+ acre fire that scorched a eucalyptus forest a few years ago. DOFAW is taking advantage of this post-fire moment to plant rows upon rows of koa trees for sustainable harvest moving into the future. This unique project will give forest managers an idea of the feasibility of post-fire conversion of previously non-native forest into a native forest for the purpose of sustainable harvest. 

Kauai Division of Forestry and Wildlife plan to have slash piles hauled out for biomass.

New koa plantings will replace a formerly non-native forest, taking advantage of a large, destructive wildfire that wiped out acres of eucalyptus.

On the final day of the conference, Dan Dennison of DLNR spoke about the media's role in Fire Incident Management and touted the Wildfire & Drought Look Out! campaign set to be released by HWMO and its many statewide partners this month. Each County Fire Department also gave updates. The general message from each one: the number of wildfires this year in Hawaii are set to surpass last year's numbers by a significant margin. 

We want to thank our partners from DOFAW and the CNH Forest Fire Council for letting us share our recent efforts and to thank Pacific Fire Exchange for a great, informative field tour!

Stay tuned for a video of the field tour on our YouTube page!

CNH Wildland Fire Conference 2016 and PFX Field Tour to Kokee
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North Shore Neighborhood Board Meeting Presentation

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The actions of a single community member can make a significant difference moving a neighborhood to action. Jim Frisbie, a resident of Waialua on the North Shore of Oahu, was inspired to action by a personal experience within his neighborhood that quickly turned into a call to action supported by a broad coalition of agencies and people. 

On March 22nd, Pablo Beimler flew to Oahu to meet with Jim to tour the wildfire hazards in his neighborhood. Weed abatement was the topic of priority concern for Jim, who was able to hold a half-hour block of that night's North Shore Neighborhood Board Meeting to discuss a motion he hoped to pass. To give background on the wildfire situation on the North Shore and ways people can prevent and prepare for wildfires, Jim invited Mr. Beimler, HFD Prevention Chief Terry Seelig, and University of Hawaii CTAHR Wildfire Extension Specialist Clay Trauernicht to speak to the board of fifteen. That night, fifty or so people listened in to what each representative had to say regarding wildfire and the importance of community action. Mr. Beimler highlighted HWMO's Firewise Communities effort and shared a few tips for creating defensible space around the home. 

Chief Seelig of Honolulu Fire Department (middle) and Clay Trauernicht of University of Hawaii CTAHR Cooperative Extension (bottom) address a large group of concerned residents about wildfires in the area.

After a public comment period, the board members deliberated and decided to support Jim's motion:

“The North Shore Neighborhood Board requests City and State examination of current wildfire regulations and community safety of homes and business adjacent to fallow agricultural lands that present fire safety hazards.  NSNB requests that City and State report back to the NSNB their recommendations and conclusions within a 4 to 6 month time frame.” 

As Jim explained: "Many of us wish to 'Keep the Country, Country' in the North Shore of Oahu.  To do this we must understand the complexities of land management and the difficulties of an agricultural community that is under great stress. While we seek fire safety on one hand, we also wish to encourage local small and corporate farming.  We do not wish to place undue burden on the lands such that landowners seek to sell their property for intensified residential and commercial development.

Land that is actively being farmed does not catch fire."

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Launiupoko Firewise Community Hazard Assessment

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Launiupoko on the west side of Maui has suffered through a number of close calls with wildfires over the past few years. Even this year alone, there have been a handful of fires that have started near or within the community. 

Chris Brosius (second from left) from West Maui Mountains Watershed Partnership explains the importance of defensible space to the Launiupoko Firewise Committee.

Chris Brosius (right) examines native landscaping around home.

As part of our current goal of creating at least ten nine Firewise Communities (Kanehoa was our first official one!) within the next year, HWMO's Pablo Beimler and West Maui Mountains Watershed Partnership's Chris Brosius met with Launiupoko residents on February 17th to conduct a Firewise Hazard Assessment. 

Launiupoko 

The site of the most recent wildfire prior to the assessment that burned within the community.

The team of new Firewise Committee members from Launiupoko gave background on the fire issues they had witnessed over the years. Much of the discussions revolved around the vegetative make-up of the area and water issues. Mr. Brosius helped connect the importance of creating a dynamic landscape that served the purpose of mitigating wildfire hazards while also restoring the watershed - these goals must work hand-in-hand to create a resilient landscape and community. 

We were able to tour some of the committee members' properties to assess wildfire hazards and mitigation successes at the home level. We also toured areas of wildland in and around the community to get a sense for the larger landscape and its relationship with the community. 

As a next step, HWMO will complete an official write-up of the assessment and deliver it to the committee members who will then devise an action plan. 

Mahalo to Launiupoko Firewise Committee members who were excellent hosts and are the spark plugs for larger community efforts to come!

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HCC Palamanui Wildfire Preparedness Field Tour

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Frank Sayre (HWMO Board Director - left) listens in as Mark Thorne (HWMO President-right) speaks to Calley ONeill (HCC Palamanui Landscape Designer)

Hawaii Community College's new campus in Kona, known as the Palamanui campus, will be a hub for academics on the west side of Hawaii Island. The state of the art facilities are a step into the future for Hawaii, but coming from a wildfire perspective, we want to ensure those facilities are guarded from the imminent threat of wildfire in the area. In late January, a wildfire burned near the south side of campus and threatened a number of homes there. 

 

HWMO President and UH CTAHR Cooperative Extension Specialist, Mark Thorne (right), gives a lesson on fountain grass.

On February 12th, HWMO Board and Staff met with HCC Palamanui officials on a wildfire preparedness field tour. HWMO's Pablo Beimler (Community Outreach Coordinator), Mark Thorne (Board President), Sam Patten (Board VP), and Frank Sayre (Board of Director) were shown around the campus by HCC Palamanui's Calley O'Neill (Landscape Planner), Marty Fletcher (Director), and Jeff Newsome (Chief of Safety and Security). 

HWMO representatives noted that the greatest threat to the campus facilities was the large swath of fountain grass that surrounded all sides of the campus. Of most concern was the seemingly endless field of fountain grass, mixed with ekoa, on the south end. We recommended a multi-mitigation, low-cost fuelbreak that would prevent fire, dust, and seed threats. 

In general, the campus is working to strive towards a landscape that fits accordingly to cultural and ecological contexts. Not only will the campus have a beautiful agricultural and restorative landscape, but it will also complement Firewise goals. We are excited to be in close partnership with the new campus and we cannot wait to see how they will transform the landscape into a sustainable, reduced fire-threat zone.

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Kailapa Community Association Annual Meeting - Presentation

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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.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of protection.””
— Chief Eric Moller, USAG-P, FES

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