09/07/23-ONE MONTH AFTER OLINDA WILDFIRE IGNITED DAILY FIRE WATCH CONTINUES

JOSH GREEN, M.D. GOVERNOR DAWN CHANG CHAIRPERSON FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 7, 2023 ONE MONTH AFTER OLINDA WILDFIRE IGNITED DAILY FIRE WATCH CONTINUES  To view video please click on photo (WAIHOU SPRING FOREST RESERVE, MAUI) – Indicative of serious drought conditions, in upcountry Maui, is the need for daily attention along the fire lines of the 1,000-acre Olinda fire. It started the same day, August 8, as the devastating fire that leveled Lāhainā town and left hundreds dead or unaccounted for. The Waihou Spring Forest Reserve was established in 1909 and this year it and all forests and pastures on the western and southern slopes of Haleakalā could be experiencing the driest conditions anyone remembers. Each and every day, a four-person team from the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW) patrols the lines established in the forest reserve and on adjacent private ranch land to douse hot spots and smokers. On Wednesday, Chris Chow a DOFAW forester out on fire watch observed, “I’m born and raised on Maui, and I’ve never seen upcountry as dry as it is this year. I was looking at old satellite images and you can see that it’s progressively getting drier, like all upcountry is completely brown.
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