Wildfire preparedness is top of mind for the Big Island, and Hawaii County has a bevy of strategies up its sleeve to ensure that its residents are insulated from the risk fires pose.
Local officials, residents and fire experts gathered Tuesday for a ‘Firewise’ event in Waikoloa Village.
Waikoloa Firewise Committee member Mark Gordon set the tone for the session.
“The focus for tonight is wildfire preparedness and mitigation in our village and around the island. It’s everyone’s kuleana to take an active roll in keeping us all safe as well as keeping your homes fire-wise,” he said.
Co-Executive Director of Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization Elizabeth Pickett works with communities across Hawaii on wildfire prevention, mitigation, and planning activities in the Hawaii-Pacific region through proactive, collaborative, and forward-thinking projects.
“Fires are not like other natural disasters. They are not like a tornado or flood or tsunami where you are stuck with whatever happens or whatever nature does. Fires only travel when there is an ignition and where there is fuel,” she explained. “In Hawaii 99% of fires are caused by people, with only 1% caused by lava or lightning. 75% of the people caused fires are accidental.”
She said the community needs to think about reducing ignition.
“Put out campfires until they are cold, be careful where you drive. Don’t drive on dry grass. Welders need to be careful not to weld when it it windy,” she advised. “Think about what we can do about preventing combustion. That starts with your home. The most impactful area is within five feet of your home. Clean up leaves, make sure there is no dead or dying vegetation, replace combustible materials with non-combustible materials.”
Pickett also suggested getting neighbors involved in the mitigation efforts.
“The more people are involved, the safer the community,” she said.
She also encouraged residents to complete a wildfire home assessment. A free home assessment is a review of the vulnerability of one’s house and landscape to wildfire and ember-ignition.
During the assessment, the assessor will review the home ignition zone principles and make specific recommendations based on the property. Assessments are performed by trained volunteer assessors and will take about 30 to 60 minutes to complete.
State Sen. Tim Richards, who represents the village, said wildfires are not something that are recently been thought of, rather something that has been continuously considered.
“I was thinking back when I was a kid and we had wildfires and fires along the coastline. But for a long times fires were quiet. Now we are seeing increased incidents,” he said.
Richards praised the Hawaii County Fire Department, calling them the best in the state. He said collaboration between HFD, volunteers, civil defense and federal military firefighters has been key in fighting fires on the island.
“It’s never going to be perfect and we are never going to prevent every event but there’s a lot of steps we can take,” he said.
Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno said in light of current events in Maui, his department is looking at all of their messaging and alert systems, including who monitors a situation and who has the authority to put out the alerts and sirens.
“We have been looking at our programs so any adjustments we have to make are done and strengthen what we have. Communication for us is critical to get the information out to you,” he said.
Magno said two sirens are slated to be installed in the village, but the siren only indicates residents need to check with the other systems available to know what to do.
He also assured residents all of the county’s critical systems have backup power and multiple communication redundancies in order to deal with an emergency event. Also, his department works with amateur radio operators to further enhance communications.
Deputy Fire Chief Eric Moller explained the department has changed the way they posture during red flag warnings issued by the National Weather Service after the August wildfire.
“We fully staff the fire stations in the areas affected, then we staff every vehicle they have so we have a more robust response. Time is against us on any of these fires.
“We also move additional apparatus from the east side to the west side, because that’s where the red flag warnings are.”
Moller said they used to have two companies respond to a brush fire, but in the case of a red flag fire, all companies in the region are dispatched. He also told community members not to wait to be told it is time to leave.
“Leave when you think it’s the right time to leave, don’t wait for police and fire to come down the street and say ‘get out now’. The converse to that is if you wait too long you can be caught in traffic,” he said.
County Council member Cindy Evans said evacuations can become complicated, not only through access to roads and traffic, but because of the vacation rentals, condos that are rented two to three months of the year and non English speaking residents.
“If you are trying to get the word out to everybody, it’s a real challenge. And if you do get the word out they might not know the evacuation route or which direction to go.”
She suggested educating visitors and residents to the importance of knowing the routes and what a red flag warning means.
Colton Chang, senior vice president of planning and technology for Hawaiian Electric, said the company is taking on additional efforts to mitigate wildfires risk from electric systems.
“Statewide we are hardening efforts to ensure our poles and infrastructure are better able to withstand high winds and when there are high winds the don’t have contact with vegetation or conductors,” he explained.
Each time there is a wildfire, county agencies assess the response.
“We are always learning lessons,” said Moller.