Brush fire starts in Hawaii's Makua Valley
Sunday, July 25, 2010

Image: Drew Smith.
A wildfire rages along the mountainside of Makua Valley near Kaeana Point, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Honolulu firefighters were called in at 2 pm yesterday (local time). A Wikinews contributor was on the scene with a camera.
Local and federal firefighters responded to the fire with trucks and helicopters. The website of a local TV news service reported this morning that 100 acres (40 hectares) had burned, but that no buildings were under threat.
Wikinews does not know how the fire started. The beach across the street is a popular camping area, so a campfire or cigarette may have set the mountainside ablaze.
Makua Valley (miles (65 km) by road from Honolulu, Hawaii's capital. The United States Army purchased three tracts of land for Howitzer emplacements in the 1920s, and has used Makua Valley as a live fire training range ever since (with some interruptions due to legal challenges.)
Sources
- "Firefighters battling Makua brush fire" — Hawaii News Now, July 24/25, 2010
- William Cole. "Makua Valley 'essential' to Army" — Honolulu Advertiser, April 20, 2007