Firefighters battle blazes in Puna brush

Eleven Hawaii Fire Department units, including a county helicopter, responded Tuesday afternoon to multiple brush fires affecting about three acres along Upper Puna Road.

According to a fire department statement, the fires were difficult to access and involved uluhe ferns, ohia trees, grasses and brush.

The alarm was sounded at 1:13 p.m. with the first unit arriving 18 minutes later. Water drops from the county chopper helped to get the fire in the vacant ohia forest land under control by 5 p.m. and extinguished at 6:48 p.m.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.