Daniel K. Inouye Highway reopens; fire contained at 320 acres
Daniel K. Inouye Highway reopened Sunday following a two-day closure as firefighters worked to extinguish a 320-acre brush fire that broke out Friday afternoon.
The fire was fully contained Sunday and the highway, which connects East and West Hawaii via the Saddle, reopened at 1:30 p.m., according to Hawaii County and U.S. Army officials. Mop-up operations continued throughout the day.
A total of 26 units, including firefighters with the Hawaii Fire Department, U.S. Army Pohakuloa Training Area and state Division of Forestry and Wildlife worked the fire that broke out near mile marker 48 on the Kona side of Daniel K. Inouye Highway.
The fire came two weeks after the largest wildland fire in Big Island history scorched more than 40,000 acres. Parker Ranch, using NASA data, said the fire, which ignited July 30, burned 47,000 acres. A brush fire Wednesday scored about 5 acres in the same area as Friday’s fire.
