Battling last week’s 9,000-acre wildfire in Central Maui and north Kihei cost the county roughly $400,000, with most of the scorched acreage owned by Mahi Pono, Maui Fire Department and Mahi Pono officials said Tuesday.
“Currently, our field crew estimates that approximately 5,000 acres of Mahi Pono’s land has been affected by the fire,” Shan Tsutsui, senior vice president of operations at Mahi Pono, said via email. “The parcels affected were south of Waiko Road down towards Maalaea with additional parcels to the east of Pulehunui also being impacted.”
Tsutsui said damage to Mahi Pono’s equipment was “pretty minimal.”
“There were some irrigation parts that melted and a few electrical infrastructure poles and drip stations that burned up. However, there was no damage to any tractors or vehicles,” Tsutsui added.
Mahi Pono is targeting the end of this month or early August to begin planting its first crops. The company purchased 41,000 acres of former sugar cane lands from Alexander & Baldwin in December.