HONOLULU (KHON2) — The end of Hawaii’s wet season brought back lush greenery but also those pesky weeds. All the rain from the recent Kona Low led to a lot of overgrown vegetation around the island which the Honolulu Fire Department (HFD) said can be a fire hazard.
You may have noticed overgrown foliage near parks, sidewalks, and highways following May’s rainstorms. Crews with the city and state are on regularly scheduled maintenance addressing areas where the undergrowth may have high fire risk.
“When you have that, the risk of ignition goes way up. Drier conditions, high wind, close proximity of trees, and things like that. It sets off the chain reaction where things burn,” stated HFD Captain Jeff Roache.
According to the Department of Parks & Recreation, extended periods of drought make overgrowth a concern when fire season is year-round in Hawaii.
“A lot of our parks are in communities that are surrounded by homes, surrounded by public infrastructure. We want to make sure that we are being good neighbors and taking care of our property and mitigating any of those potential fire hazards,” said Nate Serota, Department of Parks & Recreation Spokesperson.
The Department of Customer Services said it has received over 150 complaints regarding overgrowth on certain sidewalks and roadways owned by the city since the beginning of the year. Some complaints may also include overgrowth at parks but more have been filed for unmaintained private property.
“We’ve revitalized our park program where we are now allowing volunteers to go into these undeveloped areas to maintain them. So, that helps with these overgrowth problems as well,” said Serota.
Maintenance cycles for the Department of Transportation (DOT) were disrupted following May storms but are now back on schedule – its crews cutting back overgrowth and removing debris near highways, per DOT.