Hawaii Island: Waikoloa Village Evacuated due to spreading fire

[DeniseM]

Hawaii County lifts evacuation orders as Waimea brush fire threat eases

UPDATE: 8:45 p.m.

www.staradvertiser.com

 

[DeniseM]

Fire Chief Press Conference:

 

[csodjd]

Was just looking at that. Appears to be up the hill and still quite a way from the Hilton locations, but a wind-driven fire can cover a lot of ground.

https://hawaii-county-civil-defense-agency-hawaiicountygis.hub.arcgis.com/apps/hazard-impact-map/explore

 

[Sandy VDH]

Waikoloa Village and Waikoloa Beach are not exactly adjacent to each other, they are just on that part of the island. Beach is on the coast and Village is way up the hill from it. Paniolo Greens is up the hill a bit past WV.

 

[csodjd]

Waikoloa Village and Waikoloa Beach are not exactly adjacent to each other, they are just on that part of the island. Beach is on the coast and Village is way up the hill from it. Paniolo Greens is up the hill a bit past WV.

Yes. However, about all there is between the village and the Hilton locations is brush and they said the fire is moving in the Westward direction, and Kings Land is due west.

 

[dioxide45]

Isn't Kingsland and the Waikoloa resort area pretty much surrounded by lava fields? Meaning, there isn't a lot of brush on them to burn? I suspect there is little risk of loss at these resorts, but it certainly won't make for a great guest experience with lots of smoke blowing that way.

 

[csodjd]

Isn't Kingsland and the Waikoloa resort area pretty much surrounded by lava fields? Meaning, there isn't a lot of brush on them to burn? I suspect there is little risk of loss at these resorts, but it certainly won't make for a great guest experience with lots of smoke blowing that way.

My experience with the fires here in Thousand Oaks is that embers fly half a mile downwind and start a fire away from where it seems the fire is. Many of the homes we lost in my neighborhood where seemingly FAR from the fire, almost in a whack-a-mole way where a house would just suddenly be on fire. Indeed, the fire department did a remarkable job saving all the homes that appeared to be at risk, it was the far off ones that had embers fly through attack vents that they could not save. So that's the risk I'd say. Everyone downwind has to be on alert.

 

[dioxide45]

My experience with the fires here in Thousand Oaks is that embers fly half a mile downwind and start a fire away from where it seems the fire is. Many of the homes we lost in my neighborhood where seemingly FAR from the fire, almost in a whack-a-mole way where a house would just suddenly be on fire. Indeed, the fire department did a remarkable job saving all the homes that appeared to be at risk, it was the far off ones that had embers fly through attack vents that they could not save. So that's the risk I'd say. Everyone downwind has to be on alert.

Makes sense.

 

[HGVC Lover]

Not sure how the fire fighters can get a handle on this fire in these types of winds....there was a long stay steam of cars headed to Kona from Waikoloa/Waimea today and they were telling people to prepare for traffic stalls into Kona......this is a peek at the fire from Bldg 3......

 

[csodjd]

Not sure how the fire fighters can get a handle on this fire in these types of winds....there was a long stay steam of cars headed to Kona from Waikoloa/Waimea today and they were telling people to prepare for traffic stalls into Kona......this is a peek at the fire from Bldg 3......View attachment 38125

They're pretty good at figuring out how to divert the fire away from the homes, but yes, there's only so much they can do sometimes.

 

[csodjd]

Latest report as of about an hour ago was good, with firefighters reporting that they are getting a handle on the fire and the winds of died down.

 

[DeniseM]

UPDATE:

Waimea fire eases, evacuation lifted

Hawaii County officials Sunday night lifted a mandatory evacuation order for Pu‘u Kapu Hawaiian Homestead, Waikii Ranch and Waikoloa Village, saying the threat to homes in the area was no longer imminent.

www.staradvertiser.com

*To read the entire story, click: READ THIS STORY FOR FREE

 

[HudsHut]

Evacuation was lifted last night. While we could still smell the smoke this morning, it is much better than yesterday. The sky toward inland was brown yesterday, as shown in the photo above. We no longer smell smoke this afternoon. The road to Waikoloa city is open again.

 

["Roger"]

‘A perfect storm’: Hawaii firefighters confront Big Island’s largest wildfire in history

As immediate danger recedes, blaze serves as a warning of what’s to come amid worsening climate crisis

www.theguardian.com

 

[Rjbeach2003]

We arrived Saturday at Paniolo Greens in Waikoloa Village. We had seen the smoke on Friday. On Sunday we decided to pack up everything into cars as precaution before we drove down to Kailua-Kona. Turns out it was a good thing as the mandatory evac order was given while we were out. We ended up driving to Pahoa and staying with a friend in their rental house. Two of our group got a cheap Airbnb near Kalapana. We spent the day in Puna, then drove back and had a nice dinner at the Big Island Brew Haus, then while having dinner the Mamaloa Hwy to get to the Waikoloa Village road and back to Paniolo Greens. The fire drove lots of goats out onto the sides of the roads. I have never seen so many goats here before.