Hawai'i

At its worst, the brushfire at Pohakuloa was pretty bad. Not surprising given the mix of strong tradewinds and tinder-dry conditions. I have seen a few photos taken by friends on the first day of the fire showing the huge column of smoke. But the video below shows just how bad the fire was below that column of smoke.

Many descriptions call it a tornado, but that is rather inaccurate as the forming conditions are nothing like a true tornado. This is actually the same sort of conditions that form a dust-devil. But would you call this a fire-devil? Seems appropriate...

When we came through this morning the situation had clearly improved. The brush fire that had burned hotly, closing Saddle Road and creating a pall of smoke to cover the island, was contained and burning itself out. There was still a haze of smoke, a few desultory plumes from burning trees, but the inferno was gone. Pictures and messages from friends from the first day reported an intense fire, no surprise with the tinder dry conditions that exist on the south and west slopes of Mauna Kea.

Sections of Saddle Road were still closed, we were diverted onto one of the old sections. Thus further from the fire, all I got were a couple poor photos taken from the moving vehicle on the way to work on the summit.

The newspapers are reporting the apprehension of a suspect in connection with this fire. But that just leaves the question... Why? What would make someone start this fire, with the destruction of valuable habitat for endangered species. With the scarring of such a landmark as Mauna Kea?

The afternoon trip down the mountain showed the results of a day's hard work by nearly every firefighting asset on the island. Helicopters were still shuttling water, but much of the smoke was gone. What was visible were hillsides spotted with bright splotches of white. A spot of ash to mark each mamane tree destroyed. The fire had not spread up the slope as badly as we had feared from the first reports, instead restricted to the low slopes between Saddle Road and the steeper mountain face.

There is always a danger that a fire might escape the fire breaks and flare up again. But the crews sitting on this one are experienced and will hopefully be able to take action if that occurs. Let us hope this one is over.