Firefighters responded again on Tuesday to a brush fire that blackened 193 acres in North Kona, but said the fire was well contained.
“It’s flared up a little,” said West Hawaii Battalion Chief Ty Medeiros. “But there’s nothing outside the fire break. It is contained.”
The department sent a helicopter up to pinpoint the flareups early Tuesday afternoon. Three vehicles and five firefighters will remain on the scene through the night to put out isolated fires, Medeiros said.
Neighbors had joined firefighters in manning the edge of the Kona Acres and Wainani Estates subdivisions with hoses and buckets as the fire, whose cause is still unknown, raced mauka from the Kapuahi Street area just past noon on the Fourth of July.
Firefighters had their hands full containing the flames Saturday afternoon and Sunday, as flareups broke out at different points and the blaze in some cases ran in opposing directions. Bulldozers broke fire lines around the perimeter Saturday night and two helicopters ground it out with persistent water drops Saturday and Sunday, along with ground efforts involving crews with tankers and hoses.