Some flames reached 50 feet high last week when a runaway fire roared through Maui’s central plains, consuming an average of 25 acres a minute, officials said.
“Everywhere we turned, we had this monster we couldn’t control,” Maui Fire Department Battalion Chief Steven “Hapa” Thyne said Tuesday.
Kahului station-based Thyne and Assistant Chief Richard Kawasaki, who managed the fire from its start July 11 to its containment Monday morning, recalled the 9,000-acre blaze that threatened homes, closed roads and caused hundreds to evacuate.
The two, who have a combined total of nearly 60 years at the department, were among the first on scene at the morning Waikapu brush fire that appeared manageable due to light breezes. Within an hour, though, wind spiked and dry brush fed the fire, which began leveling 30-, 40-, 50-foot-tall trees lining a nearby drainage ditch.