The moon rises over Hualalai, turned orange by the fire smoke. For more photos, see www.flickr.com/photos/bshriane (Photo special to Hawaii 24/7)

MEDIA RELEASE

The Wednesday afternoon update from Fire Dispatch on  the Kealakekua Ranch brush fire:  800 acres affected; fire is 100 percent contained.

Fire breaks are cut. Two sides of the fire within the break still has active burning and are expected to continue burning for at least a couple of days.

Resources at scene: Four bulldozers, one water tanker, one brush truck, and one helicopter.

The two other fires — at Yee Hop Ranch and at Hokukano Ranch — also are fully contained and are close to being extinguished.

Mayor Billy Kenoi flew over the area by helicopter Wednesday morning to survey damage.

Statement from Fire Chief Darryl Oliveira:

I apologize for previous quoted misinformation.

The Hawaii Fire Department personnel are working very hard along with our partners from Pohakuloa Training Area and the owner of Kealakekua Ranch to try to extinguish a very difficult fire.

The fire is in a forested area of the ranch land and extremely difficult to access and with the forest canopy it is near impossible to have effective helicopter water drop operations. Crews are working on the ground and with the use of bulldozers we have contained the fire and are now trying to extinguish what can be accessed.

The terrain is rough, making access very challenging. With the vegetation being dry enough to burn, but still a bit green, the burned matter is generating a great deal of smoke.  It is our every intention to try to extinguish this fire as quickly and safely as possible.

Money is not the issue and what may have been misquoted was my response to questions of how much do these types of fire cost. What was conveyed to the reporter and misquoted was that sometimes strategies can include letting some of the fuel burn out if it will reduce the threat of future fire spread or other fires starting, as well as, if the fire cannot be extinguished, and most importantly, if burning the fuel out poses no hazard or risk to the community.

Obviously, the smoke is a hazard, and therefore, we are trying to extinguish the fire as quickly as possible. I am in direct contact with the Department of Health and are working with them on monitoring the air quality as it relates to the fires and the VOG.