‘Not out of the woods yet,’ fire officials say of dry season and fires

HONOLULU (KHON2) — Summer is winding down, and there is not much rain in the forecast to wrap up the dry season.

The U.S. Drought Monitor shows that back on July 29, about 82% of the state was in some type of drought, and by Aug. 28, nearly 90% of the state was experiencing some type of drought condition.

“The drier summer season is still ongoing, we’re not out of the woods yet,” said Honolulu Fire Department Captain Jaimie Song. “So, again we really encourage our residents to be proactive in creating defensible spaces.”

Experts say creating a defensible space means clearing out gutters, roof lines, and lanai of dead vegetation, leaves, and clear out dead grass that’s within a foot of homes.

“It’s proven with science and testing that homes have survived large-scale fires if you have no combustibles in that zero to five-feet from your home, the embers can’t gather there and they don’t burn,” explained State Fire Marshal Dori Booth.

On Oahu, there were at least two fires this summer requiring evacuations: one in Kunia and one in Maili.

On Maui, Kahikunui residents were forced to evacuate their homes earlier this summer.

Many residents told KHON2 they were not prepared to leave on such short notice or didn’t receive any kind of alert.

“Sign up for HNL alerts, first of all so you’re aware something is happening in your neighborhood and you can ready yourself should an evacuation be necessary and secondly, if an evacuation is ordered, then you’ll get the HNL Alert, and you can get out of the area as soon as possible,” Capt. Song explained.

They recommend having a to go bag ready for any emergency whether its a tsunami, fire, hurricane, or flood.

All counties have different emergency alert programs that residents can sign up for.

This is Booth’s first summer in Hawaii as the Fire Marshal. She said maintaining yards, whether a small or big landowner, helps reduce fire spread during windy conditions, and says so far, with the limited resources the state has for fighting fires, fire departments are doing a great job.

“We have an amazing foundation to continue to improve upon as our environment changes requiring us to respond to different fires than what we’re used to,” Booth said.

Fire season is year-long in Hawaii, but is heightened during the hot, dry summer months.