KUNIA, Hawaii (KHON2) — Farmers in Kunia say they are breathing a sigh of relief now that a suspect has been charged in connection with the brushfires.
Legislators said the recent blazes will be remembered next session.
The board president of Kunia Loa Ridge Farmlands said his entire community will sleep a lot better since the arson suspect has been charged and remains in custody.
“Relief, and honestly, you know, it’s had that feeling of, ‘Aha, gotcha!’ Right? I knew we were going to get you, but it was just a matter of time,” said Charles Donaldson.
Donaldson said security cameras on site captured the suspect — a manager of one of the farmland lots — coming and going where several fires started at the times when they flared up. He said the man even returned to the scene when fire officials were battling the flames.
“And then as he entered and exit and tried to be a part of that whole fire process, right, as the professionals came in to do their job, he wanted to be in the middle of it and was asking weird questions,” Donaldson said.
There is new legislation that took effect in 2025 to create stricter penalties for crimes on agricultural land. The vice chair of the Senate Agriculture and Environment Committee said they are going to tweak the wording after the fires in Kunia.
“Trespass is a big deal, that’s why we lost Cranston “Duke” Pia, the vandalism, the theft, all of that has ramped up penalties,” Sen. Tim Richards, III said. “Thinking about the whole arson side, first of all, you’re putting people’s lives at risk, number one. Also, that is very easily able to say that we have vandalism going on because you’re destroying something.”
Donaldson said they have meetings planned to help educate their community on firebreaks and wildfire safety plans in the coming weeks — and his neighbors are all a lot closer now that the crisis is over.
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“Happiness and also that sense of community, because since the fires has happened, you know, this community here has really gotten together,” he said.