HONOLULU (KHON2) — As we get into the dry season, it becomes more and more important to get ourselves ready for the possibility of wildfires. Carl Otsuka, a fire inspector with the Honolulu Fire Department joined Take2 on Tuesday to share some tips for wildfire prevention month.
May has been unusually rainy, and Otsuka said that has contributed to invasive grasses growing substantially. When those grasses grow, they eventually dry out and become fire fuel.
“When we get heavy rains like this the grasses grow really tall and really fast and once it dries out, watch out. We do work with the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization. We’d like people to check out their publication because we have drought and they can always access that,” Otsuka said.
A lot of personal wildfire prevention involves keeping potential fuels away from your property.
“We want people to try to keep all vegetation at least five feet away from their home,” Otsuka said. “Taller trees the limbs and arms and branches of your trees try to keep them 10 feet away from your house and also if between 30 and 100 feet if there’s any brush grasses cut those away when mowing your lawn at a maximum four inches, so cut them lower than that even.”
Keeping invasive grasses away can be quite a chore, but Otsuka said that there are ways to manage them.
If you can, wood mulch, thick layers of 3 to 4-inch layers of wood mulch can prevent those grasses from getting enough sunlight to actually grow so if you can cover your outer edges of your property with all kinds of mulch will really help. I also would encourage people to xeriscape closer to their house. Things like cacti or succulents, rock gardens, that will really prevent any types of fire starting near their house.”
Carl Otsuka, Honolulu Fire Department fire inspector
For more information check out the HWMO website.