HONOLULU (KHON2) — As we enter day five of the Mililani Mauka fire, the Honolulu Fire Department announced that about 70% of the blaze has been contained.
According to HFD, the fire has not grown any bigger but more resources are being used to battle it. This comes just as the National Weather Service has issued a Fire Weather Watch, warning that weather conditions could result in extreme fire behavior beginning Sunday morning.
The advisory is issued for all leeward areas of Hawaii and Central Oahu until Monday.
HFD said they have seen no significant spread overnight of the Mililani blaze following their nightly suspended fire operations. At around 7:15 a.m., they picked up firefighting efforts and confirmed that flames were now moving in the southeast direction.
In a press release on Thursday night, the fire department mentioned a change in the proximity of the wildfire from the Mililani Mauka community but later corrected that it remains about four miles away from any buildings.
The U.S. Army National Guard and the U.S. Fish Wildfire Services have kicked in to help battle the blaze — tallying a total of seven helicopters being used to drop about 2,000 gallons of water from each aircraft.
HFD said California firefighters known as Hotshots will be helping out starting Saturday.
They’re actually on the ground now and we’re gonna put them to work right around the Mililani Mauka community in the areas that are safe for them to operate to just get ahead of the game. Should the winds pick up and the fire gets out of control we have it contained, but we’re just being overly cautious with this. They’re just gonna be working around the community to create fire breaks just as a contingency plan.
Sheldon Hao, Honolulu Fire Department Fire Chief
Chief Hao said there are 30 of them here now and more are on the way. He added that he has also spoken with county and state agencies about evacuation plans just in case
According to the fire department, the winds have been favorable so far which is why they have been able to contain the fire more. But with stronger winds expected this weekend, they want to take extra precautions.
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HFD investigators and the USFWS Office of Law Enforcement have yet to discover the cause of the fire as they continue their investigation.
