Final update: 1,000 Acre Kauai Wildfire Reporting

A very fast-moving wildfire resulted in an evacuation notice on Kauai not far from Beat of Hawaii headquarters. Residents in the westside town of Kaumakani were told earlier to evacuate immediately. The Kaumualii Highway was closed from Hanapepe to Kaumakani. Access to the Westside and Waimea and Kokee State Parks was cut off. This followed a fire yesterday near the historic nearby town of Hanapepe that then expanded greatly.

At about noon, the County of Kauai said there were no threats to roads or homes. But after that, everything changed.

8:00 pm Monday: It was reported that the fire expanded explosively from just dozens of acres reported mid-day, to 1,000 acres as of 6:30 pm. There have been no official reports about damage or injuries. Kauai Police Dept. has been working door to door. The Department of Water issued a water conservation notice for customers from Hanapepe and beyond and customers are advised to limit water use to essential needs only to avoid a water service outage. The highway remains closed. Two shelters are open for evacuees.

10:00 pm Monday: Thus far, however, there has been no official reports of structural or other damage or injuries as a result of the fire. Power lines have been de-energized over a broader area than previously indicated, as far away as Kokee State Park, and it will not be possible to re-power them easily due to required inspection. The highway has just reopened to one lane of alternating traffic.

10:00 am Tuesday: The fire is now 100% contained with KFD still on the seen monitoring hotspots. They say that no homes were destroyed although 1,100 acres have burned. The cause is being investigated while residents have returned to their homes. The highway has resumed two-way traffic. No further news updates are expected.

Firefighters and partners continues to respond to this fire.

Beat of Hawaii was nearby when the fire, which was reported early yesterday to have been in Hanapepe suddenly intensified and was then reported to be approaching Kaumakani, to the west. It isn’t clear if it jumped the highway at some point or not.

We could see the smoke billowing and flames leaping in very gusty wind conditions.

We were located nearby when the fire suddenly became much worse. From the Hanapepe Swinging Bridge we could see a helicopter dipping in to obtain water to the rescue. We also witnessed a plethora of activity, including water trucks, bulldozers, fire crews moving rapidly on the ground and in the air, and others quickly approaching the scene. Earlier yesterday, the Hanapepe fire was estimated to have impacted 28 acres. That was per the Kauai Police Department when the fire was located in western Hanapepe town.

Power lines have been de-energized.

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) de-energized power lines in the fire-affected area to ensure public safety. The rest of the west side is being powered by other generation sources. There is no timeline for the restoration of power.

Kaumakani is on Kauai’s westside.

As of the 2000 census, there were 607 people said to be residing there. Starting in the late 19th century, Olokele Sugar Co. built a camp there for its employees. In 1946, the company replaced the old camp with a new one. The camp was built on a cane field that slopes toward the ocean.

Kaumakani was once officially known as Makaweli, which means “fearful features” in Hawaiian. In 1956, the name was officially changed. Kaumakani means “place in the wind” in Hawaiian.

Emergency notifications sent.

We received the above notification on our cell phones at 2:50 pm yesterday. Some residents, however, were notified of a flash flood warning, by mistake.

3:25 pm Monday: Evacuation shelter opened for Kaumakani residents.

Public shelters were opened for Kaumakani residents.

Beat of Hawaii lead photo. Facebook video from meteorologist Edward Shaw, who is visiting Kauai from Roanoke, Virginia.