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Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- General
- Los Angeles Times
Could this Hawaii community be the next Lahaina? Some residents fear a similar wildfire fate
WAIANAE, Hawaii — When there's enough rain, the mountain-framed expanse of vacant land behind Calvin Endo's house looks like the lush and verdant landscape that makes tropical Hawaii famous. But in the summer, when the jungle of eyeball-high invasive grasses and spindly tree branches fade to brown, he fears it could become a fiery hellscape. This isn't Maui, where most of Lahaina burned down during a massive wildfire in August 2023. Endo's duplex is in Waianae on the west side of Oahu. But Waianae and Lahaina have a lot in common. They're both situated on parched western island coasts, with road access pinched by topography, and are bastions of Native Hawaiian culture. Both have sections crisscrossed by overhead power lines atop aging wooden poles, like those that fell in high winds and caused the Lahaina fire. There's even a Lahaina Street through the heart of Makaha, Endo's neighborhood along the Waianae coast. 'It can happen to us,' said Endo, who moved to the Makaha Meadows subdivision in 1980, soon after it was built. 'We can have a repeat of Lahaina if somebody doesn't do anything about the brush in the back.' In recent days, two wildfires a few miles away, including a July 6 blaze that left a 94-year-old woman dead, proved his worst fears could become reality. It's been nearly two years since Lahaina provided a worst-case scenario of the destruction from wind-whipped flames fueled by overgrown brush. With 102 deaths, it's the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century. In the months afterward, the number of Hawaii communities participating in the Firewise network, a nationally recognized program that helps communities with resources for safeguarding homes, more than doubled to 35 — but none in western Oahu. Even though Waianae residents have long known about their wildfire risks, only now is one of its neighborhoods close to gaining Firewise status. Communities become Firewise by organizing a committee, creating a hazard assessment, developing an action plan and volunteering hours toward reducing risk, such as removing overgrown brush. Firewise tracks a community's progress, connects residents with experts, and provides ideas and funding for mitigation, workshops and training. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service considers Lahaina and Waianae to be at much higher risk than other U.S. communities for a wildland fire, noted Honolulu Fire Department Battalion Chief Keith Ito. 'The weather, the winds, they're pretty much identical,' he said. 'With all that being said, I think that the high-risk wildfire potential is a state-wide problem, not really specific to Waianae or Lahaina.' Nani Barretto, co-director of the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, struggles to understand why fire-prone communities like Waianae have yet to join the Firewise movement. There are also no Firewise communities on the island of Kauai. 'Just because we are proactive in getting the word out, it doesn't mean the right people are getting the information,' she said. 'For Maui, it took a very devastating event for them to join.' Organizing a community can be challenging because it requires residents to put in time and step up as leaders, she said. Endo, who is a longtime member of the Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board, had never even heard of Firewise until recently. A development called Sea Country, near the neighborhood that was recently ordered to evacuate during a wildfire, is close to becoming the fist Firewise community in Waianae, said Andria Tupola, a resident who also represents the coast on the Honolulu City Council. The process got underway around 2018 but picked up momentum after Lahaina, she said. Sea Country recently completed a hazard assessment and has planned some mitigation events, including a park cleanup in August, said Ashley Bare, the Firewise support specialist for Oahu. Lahaina also provided the spark for opening an emergency access route in Waianae, Tupola said. Farrington Highway, the main artery along the coast, can get clogged with just an accident. Military officials who control a mountain pass above Waianae started talking about letting civilians access the route after Lahaina, she said. During the July 6 fire, state and military officials were ready to open the road as a way out of the coast and into central Oahu, said state Rep. Darius Kila, who represents the area. A Hawaiian homestead community in Waianae's Nanakuli Valley is also trying to achieve Firewise status, said Diamond Badajos, spokesperson for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Home to the largest concentration of Native Hawaiians, Waianae is rich in Hawaiian culture and history. But much of the coast also struggles with poverty and homelessness. Residents have grown accustomed to wildfires in the dry summer months, said Republican state Rep. Chris Muraoka: 'It's almost like if it doesn't burn, something's not right.' However, Muraoka said he thinks communities along the coast would benefit more from fire-prevention and safety education in schools rather than organizing to be Firewise. Muraoka, who lives in Makaha, said communities in Waianae have unique needs that being Firewise might not address, including sections with neighborhoods that are more spread out than in Lahaina and blazes that are often started by arsonists or kids playing with fire. Some residents already do what they can, especially with the dry season underway. Endo often tries to clear brush on private property behind his home himself, to create a firebreak. Some properties in Waianae Valley use sheep to eat the overgrown vegetation. Retired firefighter Shermaih 'Bulla' Iaea recalls fighting blazes in the brush near Endo's home and Makaha Elementary School. In 2018, his farm burned down during high winds from a passing hurricane. He was using a herd of sheep on his property until wild dogs killed them in April. Neighborhoods banding together to become Firewise is another tool that will help, he said. 'There's a 100 percent chance that will happen here,' he said. 'I thought it would never happen to me. Now I'm trying to ring the bells. I'm trying to sound the alarm.' Being one of the poorest communities in the state is a major factor preventing Waianae from becoming Firewise, said Kila, who lives near where the July 6 fire happened. Before the summer, the Democratic lawmaker sent a letter to Hawaiian Electric and telecom companies urging 'immediate and coordinated action' to address dangerous, sagging utility lines on aging wooden poles along the coast. It's not clear why Makaha ended up with a long street named Lahaina, which can mean 'relentless sun' in Hawaiian. But like the west Maui town, it fits the sunny west Oahu neighborhood, which is home to the world-famous Makaha surfing beach. Some neighborhoods above Lahaina Street are newer and have underground utilities, like Endo's. But toward the ocean, older neighborhoods are laced by overhead power lines. That worries Glen Kila, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner in Waianae, who is not related to Darius Kila. Power lines are blamed for sparking the Lahaina blaze. 'If that happens to Waianae,' he said, 'we're done.' Kelleher writes for the Associated Press.
4 days ago
- General
Could this Hawaii community be the next Lahaina? Some residents fear a similar wildfire fate
WAIANAE, Hawaii -- When there's enough rain, the mountain-framed expanse of vacant land behind Calvin Endo's house looks like the lush and verdant landscape that makes tropical Hawaii famous. But in the summer, when the jungle of eyeball-high invasive grasses and spindly tree branches fade to brown, he fears it could become a fiery hellscape. This isn't Maui, where most of Lahaina burned down during a massive wildfire in August 2023. Endo's duplex is in Waianae on the west side of Oahu. But Waianae and Lahaina have a lot in common. They're both situated on parched western island coasts, with road access pinched by topography, and are bastions of Native Hawaiian culture. Both have sections crisscrossed by overhead power lines atop aging wooden poles, like those that fell in high winds and caused the Lahaina fire. There's even a Lahaina Street through the heart of Makaha, Endo's neighborhood along the Waianae coast. 'It can happen to us,' said Endo, who moved to the Makaha Meadows subdivision in 1980, soon after it was built. 'We can have a repeat of Lahaina if somebody doesn't do anything about the brush in the back.' In recent days, two wildfires a few miles away, including a July 6 blaze that left a 94-year-old woman dead, proved his worst fears could become reality. It's been nearly two years since Lahaina provided a worst-case scenario of the destruction from wind-whipped flames fueled by overgrown brush. With 102 deaths, it's the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century. In the months afterward, the number of Hawaii communities participating in the Firewise network, a nationally recognized program that helps communities with resources for safeguarding homes, more than doubled to 35 — but none in western Oahu. Even though Waianae residents have long known about their wildfire risks, only now is one of its neighborhoods close to gaining Firewise status. Communities become Firewise by organizing a committee, creating a hazard assessment, developing an action plan and volunteering hours toward reducing risk, such as removing overgrown brush. Firewise tracks a community's progress, connects residents with experts, and provides ideas and funding for mitigation, workshops and training. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service considers Lahaina and Waianae to be at much higher risk than other U.S. communities for a wildland fire, noted Honolulu Fire Department Battalion Chief Keith Ito. 'The weather, the winds, they're pretty much identical,' he said. 'With all that being said, I think that the high-risk wildfire potential is a state-wide problem, not really specific to Waianae or Lahaina.' Nani Barretto, co-director of the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, struggles to understand why fire-prone communities like Waianae have yet to join the Firewise movement. There are also no Firewise communities on the island of Kauai. 'Just because we are proactive in getting the word out, it doesn't mean the right people are getting the information,' she said. 'For Maui, it took a very devastating event for them to join.' Organizing a community can be challenging because it requires residents to put in time and step up as leaders, she said. Endo, who is a longtime member of the Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board, had never even heard of Firewise until recently. A development called Sea Country, near the neighborhood that was recently ordered to evacuate during a wildfire, is close to becoming the fist Firewise community in Waianae, said Andria Tupola, a resident who also represents the coast on the Honolulu City Council. The process got underway around 2018 but picked up momentum after Lahaina, she said. Sea Country recently completed a hazard assessment and has planned some mitigation events, including a park cleanup in August, said Ashley Bare, the Firewise support specialist for Oahu. Lahaina also provided the spark for opening an emergency access route in Waianae, Tupola said. Farrington Highway, the main artery along the coast, can get clogged with just an accident. Military officials who control a mountain pass above Waianae started talking about letting civilians access the route after Lahaina, she said. During the July 6 fire, state and military officials were ready to open the road as a way out of the coast and into central Oahu, said state Rep. Darius Kila, who represents the area. A Hawaiian homestead community in Waianae's Nanakuli Valley is also trying to achieve Firewise status, said Diamond Badajos, spokesperson for the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Home to the largest concentration of Native Hawaiians, Waianae is rich in Hawaiian culture and history. But much of the coast also struggles with poverty and homelessness. Residents have grown accustomed to wildfires in the dry summer months, said Republican state Rep. Chris Muraoka: 'It's almost like if it doesn't burn, something's not right.' However, Muraoka said he thinks communities along the coast would benefit more from fire-prevention and safety education in schools rather than organizing to be Firewise. Muraoka, who lives in Makaha, said communities in Waianae have unique needs that being Firewise might not address, including sections with neighborhoods that are more spread out than in Lahaina and blazes that are often started by arsonists or kids playing with fire. Some residents already do what they can, especially with the dry season underway. Endo often tries to clear brush on private property behind his home himself, to create a firebreak. Some properties in Waianae Valley use sheep to eat the overgrown vegetation. Retired firefighter Shermaih 'Bulla' Iaea recalls fighting blazes in the brush near Endo's home and Makaha Elementary School. In 2018, his farm burned down during high winds from a passing hurricane. He was using a herd of sheep on his property until wild dogs killed them in April. Neighborhoods banding together to become Firewise is another tool that will help, he said. 'There's a 100 percent chance that will happen here,' he said. 'I thought it would never happen to me. Now I'm trying to ring the bells. I'm trying to sound the alarm.' Being one of the poorest communities in the state is a major factor preventing Waianae from becoming Firewise, said Kila, who lives near where the July 6 fire happened. Before the summer, the Democratic lawmaker sent a letter to Hawaiian Electric and telecom companies urging 'immediate and coordinated action" to address dangerous, sagging utility lines on aging wooden poles along the coast. It's not clear why Makaha ended up with a long street named Lahaina, which can mean 'relentless sun' in Hawaiian. But like the west Maui town, it fits the sunny west Oahu neighborhood, which is home to the world-famous Makaha surfing beach. Some neighborhoods above Lahaina Street are newer and have underground utilities, like Endo's. But toward the ocean, older neighborhoods are laced by overhead power lines. That worries Glen Kila, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner in Waianae, who is not related to Darius Kila. Power lines are blamed for sparking the Lahaina blaze. 'If that happens to Waianae," he said, "we're done.'
Los Angeles Times
25-03-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
After Lahaina fire, Hawaii residents focus on becoming ‘Firewise'
KULA, Hawaii — The car tires, propane tanks, gas generators and rusty appliances heaped on the side of a dirt road waiting to be hauled away filled Desiree Graham with relief. 'That means all that stuff is not in people's yards,' she said on a blustery July day in Kahikinui, a remote Native Hawaiian homestead community in southeast Maui where wildfire is a top concern. In June, neighbors and volunteers spent four weekends clearing rubbish from their properties in a community-wide effort to create 'defensible space,' or areas around homes free of ignitable vegetation and debris. They purged 12 tons of waste. 'It's ugly, but it's pretty beautiful to me,' said Graham, a member of Kahikinui's Firewise committee, part of a rapidly growing program from the nonprofit National Fire Protection Assn. that helps residents assess their communities' fire risk and create plans to mitigate it. Kahikinui is one of dozens of Hawaii communities seeking ways to protect themselves as decades of climate change, urban development, and detrimental land use policies culminate to cause more destructive fires. The state has 250,000 acres of unmanaged fallow agricultural land, nearly all of its buildings sit within the wildland-urban interface, and two-thirds of communities have only one road in and out. But experts say that even with so many factors out of communities' control, they can vastly improve their resilience — by transforming their own neighborhoods. 'Fire is not like other natural hazards, it can only move where there is fuel, and we have a lot of say in that,' said Nani Barretto, co-executive director of the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, a 25-year-old nonprofit at the forefront of the state's fire-risk mitigation. Neighborhoods all over the United States are wrestling with the same challenge, some in places that never worried about fire before. A recent Headwaters Economics analysis found that 1,100 communities in 32 states shared similar risk profiles to places recently devastated by urban wildfires. The Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization helps communities like Kahikinui become members of Firewise. In the 10 years preceding the August 2023 Maui fires that destroyed Lahaina, 15 Hawaii communities joined Firewise USA. Since then, the number has more than doubled to 31, with a dozen more in the process of joining. 'Everyone was like, 'My God, what can we do?' ' said Shelly Aina, former chair of the Firewise committee for Waikoloa Village, an 8,000-resident community on the west side of the Big Island, recalling the months after the Maui fires. The development — heavily wind exposed, surrounded by dry invasive grasses and with just one main road in and out — had already experienced several close calls in the last two decades. It was first recognized as Firewise in 2016. As Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization-trained home assessors, Shelly and her husband, Dana Aina, have done over 60 free assessments for neighbors since 2022, evaluating their properties for ignition vulnerabilities. Volunteers removed kiawe trees last year along a fuel break bordering houses. Residents approved an extra HOA fee for vegetation removal on interior lots. Measures like these can have outsized impact as people in fire-prone states adapt to more extreme wildfires, according to Dr. Jack Cohen, a retired U.S. Forest Service scientist. 'The solution is in the community, not out there with the fire breaks, because those don't stop the fire in extreme conditions,' said Cohen. Direct flames from a wildfire aren't what typically initiate an urban conflagration, he said. Wind-blown embers can travel miles away from a fire, landing on combustible material like dry vegetation, or accumulating in corners like where a deck meets siding. 'They're urban fires, not wildfires,' said Cohen. The solutions don't always require expensive retrofits like a whole new roof, but targeting the specific places within 100 feet of the house where embers could ignite material. In dense neighborhoods, that requires residents work together, making community-wide efforts like Firewise important. 'The house is only as ignition resistant as its neighbors,' said Cohen. Even with renewed interest in fire resilience, community leaders face challenges in mobilizing their neighbors. Mitigation can take money, time and sacrifice. It's not enough to cut the grass once, for example, vegetation has to be regularly maintained. Complacency sets in. Measures like removing hazardous trees can cost thousands of dollars. 'I don't know how we deal with that, because those who have them can't afford to take them down,' said Shelly Aina. The Ainas try offering low-cost measures, like installing metal screening behind vents and crawl spaces to keep out embers. The Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization helps with costs where it can. It gave Kahikinui a $5,000 grant for a dumpster service to haul out its waste, and helped Waikoloa Village rent a chipper for the trees it removed. It's been hard to keep up with the need, said Barretto, but even just a little bit of financial assistance can have an exponential impact. 'You give them money, they rally,' she said. 'We can give them $1,000 and it turns into 1,000 man hours of doing the clearing.' HWMO was able to expand its grant program after the Maui fires with donations from organizations like the Bezos Earth Fund and the American Red Cross. At a time when federal funding for climate mitigation is uncertain, communities need far more financial support to transform their neighborhoods, said Headwaters Economics' Kimi Barrett, who studies the costs of increasing fire risk. 'If what we're trying to do is save people and communities, then we must significantly invest in people and communities,' said Barrett. Those investments are just a fraction of the billions of dollars in losses sustained after megafires, said Barrett. A recent study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Allstate found that $1 in resilience and preparation investment can save $13 in economic and property losses after a disaster. Another hurdle is asking residents to do work and make sacrifices as they watch others neglect their role. 'The neighbors will ask, 'What about the county land? There's no routine maintenance,' ' said Shelly Aina. Her husband Dana Aina said he reminds people that it is everyone's kuleana, or responsibility, to take care of land and people. 'An island is a canoe, a canoe is an island,' he said, quoting a Hawaiian proverb. 'We all have to paddle together.' Bigger stakeholders are starting to make changes. Among them, Hawaii passed legislation to create a state fire marshal post, and its main utility, Hawaiian Electric, is undergrounding some power lines and installing AI-enabled cameras to detect ignitions earlier. Meanwhile, Firewise communities have found that doing their own mitigation gives them more clout when asking for funding or for others to do their part. After the 66-residence community of Kawaihae Village on Hawaii Island joined Firewise, they were finally able to get a neighboring private landowner and the state to create fuel breaks and clear grasses. 'Without that, we wouldn't have been on anyone's radar,' said Brenda DuFresne, committee member of Kawaihae Firewise. 'I think Firewise is a way to show people that you're willing to help yourself.' Angueira writes for the Associated Press.
The Independent
25-03-2025
- General
- The Independent
After Lahaina fire, Hawaii residents address their risk by becoming 'Firewise'
The car tires, propane tanks, gas generators and rusty appliances heaped on the side of a dirt road waiting to be hauled away filled Desiree Graham with relief. 'That means all that stuff is not in people's yards," she said on a blustery July day in Kahikinui, a remote Native Hawaiian homestead community in southeast Maui where wildfire is a top concern. In June, neighbors and volunteers spent four weekends clearing rubbish from their properties in a community-wide effort to create 'defensible space,' or areas around homes free of ignitable vegetation and debris. They purged 12 tons of waste. 'It's ugly, but it's pretty beautiful to me,' said Graham, a member of Kahikinui's Firewise committee, part of a rapidly growing program from the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association that helps residents assess their communities' fire risk and create plans to mitigate it. Kahikinui is one of dozens of Hawaii communities seeking ways to protect themselves as decades of climate change, urban development, and detrimental land use policies culminate to cause more destructive fires. The state has 250,000 acres of unmanaged fallow agricultural land, nearly all of its buildings sit within the wildland-urban interface, and two-thirds of communities have only one road in and out. But experts say that even with so many factors out of communities' control, they can vastly improve their resilience — by transforming their own neighborhoods. 'Fire is not like other natural hazards, it can only move where there is fuel, and we have a lot of say in that,' said Nani Barretto, co-executive director of the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization (HWMO), a 25-year-old nonprofit at the forefront of the state's fire-risk mitigation. Neighborhoods all over the United States are wrestling with the same challenge, some in places that never worried about fire before. A recent Headwaters Economics analysis found 1,100 communities in 32 states shared similar risk profiles to places recently devastated by urban wildfires. A 'Firewise' movement HWMO helps communities like Kahikinui become Firewise. In the 10 years preceding the August 2023 Maui fires that destroyed Lahaina, 15 Hawaii communities joined Firewise USA. Since then, the number has more than doubled to 31, with a dozen more in the process of joining. 'Everyone was like, 'My God, what can we do?'' said Shelly Aina, former chair of the Firewise committee for Waikoloa Village, an 8,000-resident community on the west side of the Big Island, recalling the months after the Maui fires. The development — heavily wind exposed, surrounded by dry invasive grasses and with just one main road in and out — had already experienced several close calls in the last two decades. It was first recognized as Firewise in 2016. As HWMO-trained home assessors, Shelly and her husband Dana Aina have done over 60 free assessments for neighbors since 2022, evaluating their properties for ignition vulnerabilities. Volunteers removed kiawe trees last year along a fuel break bordering houses. Residents approved an extra HOA fee for vegetation removal on interior lots. Measures like these can have outsized impact as people in fire-prone states adapt to more extreme wildfires, according to Dr. Jack Cohen, a retired U.S. Forest Service scientist. 'The solution is in the community, not out there with the fire breaks, because those don't stop the fire in extreme conditions,' said Cohen. Direct flames from a wildfire aren't what typically initiate an urban conflagration, he said. Wind-blown embers can travel miles away from a fire, landing on combustible material like dry vegetation, or accumulating in corners like where a deck meets siding. 'They're urban fires, not wildfires,' said Cohen. The solutions don't always require expensive retrofits like a whole new roof, but targeting the specific places within 100 feet of the house where embers could ignite material. In dense neighborhoods, that requires residents work together, making community-wide efforts like Firewise important. 'The house is only as ignition resistant as its neighbors,' said Cohen. Communities can't transform alone Even with renewed interest in fire resilience, community leaders face challenges in mobilizing their neighbors. Mitigation can take money, time and sacrifice. It's not enough to cut the grass once, for example, vegetation has to be regularly maintained. Complacency sets in. Measures like removing hazardous trees can cost thousands of dollars. 'I don't know how we deal with that, because those who have them can't afford to take them down,' said Shelly Aina. The Ainas try offering low-cost measures, like installing metal screening behind vents and crawl spaces to keep out embers. HWMO helps with costs where it can. It gave Kahikinui a $5,000 grant for a dumpster service to haul out its waste, and helped Waikoloa Village rent a chipper for the trees it removed. It's been hard to keep up with the need, said Barretto, but even just a little bit of financial assistance can have an exponential impact. 'You give them money, they rally,' she said. 'We can give them $1,000 and it turns into 1,000 man hours of doing the clearing.' HWMO was able to expand its grant program after the Maui fires with donations from organizations like the Bezos Earth Fund and the American Red Cross. At a time when federal funding for climate mitigation is uncertain, communities need far more financial support to transform their neighborhoods, said Headwaters Economics' Kimi Barrett, who studies the costs of increasing fire risk. 'If what we're trying to do is save people and communities, then we must significantly invest in people and communities,' said Barrett. Those investments are just a fraction of the billions of dollars in losses sustained after megafires, said Barrett. A recent study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Allstate found that $1 in resilience and preparation investment can save $13 in economic and property losses after a disaster. Another hurdle is asking residents to do work and make sacrifices as they watch others neglect their role. 'The neighbors will ask, 'What about the county land?' There's no routine maintenance,'' said Shelly Aina. Her husband Dana Aina said he reminds people that it is everyone's kuleana, or responsibility, to take care of land and people. 'An island is a canoe, a canoe is an island,' he said, quoting a Hawaiian proverb. 'We all have to paddle together.' Bigger stakeholders are starting to make changes. Among them, Hawaii passed legislation to create a state fire marshal post, and its main utility, Hawaiian Electric, is undergrounding some power lines and installing AI-enabled cameras to detect ignitions earlier. Meanwhile, Firewise communities have found that doing their own mitigation gives them more clout when asking for funding or for others to do their part. After the 66-residence community of Kawaihae Village on Hawaii Island joined Firewise, they were finally able to get a neighboring private landowner and the state to create fuel breaks and clear grasses. 'Without that we wouldn't have been on anyone's radar,' said Brenda DuFresne, committee member of Kawaihae Firewise. 'I think Firewise is a way to show people that you're willing to help yourself.' —— Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Hawaiian Electric commits $260K to local nonprofit combatting wildfires
Hawaiian Electric today announced a pact with the nonprofit Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization to help fund coordinators for its Firewise community programs. The company said it recently paid the first $50, 000 of a $260, 000 commitment to HWMO, a Hawaii-based nonprofit leading wildfire preparedness efforts across the state. HWMO locally administers the nationally recognized which helps communities organize, prepare, and take actions to protect their homes against wildfire threats. Currently, HWMO oversees 31 Firewise communities across three counties—from Kamilonui Valley on Oahu to Kula Meadows on Maui and Waikoloa Village on Hawaii island. The funding comes as the nonprofit's federal grants for these programs are ending, according to Nani Barretto, HWMO co-executive director. Since the deadly Maui wildfires occurred in August 2023, interest in the Firewise communities program has grown exponentially. Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. Barretto said within 10 months of the Maui wildfires, another 15 communities were added to the 15 that were already established as nationally recognized sites. Another 13 are in the application process. Firewise program coordinators help communities think through what projects will reduce risk, provide technical assistance and bring neighbors together to share resources, among other responsibilities. Some examples include bringing community groups together to create firebreaks in Kamilo Nui Valley, along with projects to remove invasive, fire-prone fountain grass from common areas at a Mauna Kea Resort community. Hawaiian Electric was also a sponsor of the Hawaii Wildfire Summit in Kona last week, which brought leaders from fire departments, emergency management, forestry, natural resources, utilities, insurance, and more to discuss wildfire preparedness and management in the state. HWMO hosted the summit in partnership with the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife and various fire departments. 'Our support of Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization is a valuable investment in strengthening community resilience across the five islands Hawaiian Electric serves, ' said Kurt Tsue, Hawaiian Electric director of community affairs, in a news release. 'Getting behind HWMO's community-driven wildfire mitigation efforts is critical as we work in parallel to upgrade our infrastructure to reduce the risk of ignition and protect our customers and communities.' 5 Comments By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our. Having trouble with comments ? .
