5,000 fire evacuees allowed to return home in Hawaii

Nearly 5,000 people ordered to flee their homes because of a huge brush fire on Hawaii’s Big Island were allowed to return, finding their property dusted with a layer of ash but otherwise undamaged.

In spite of authorities reopening the area, Waikoloa Village appeared all but abandoned yesterday as National Guard helicopters joined local firefighters in trying to contain the massive blaze in its third day.

“This is like a ghost town today,” said Kris Kosa-Correia, principal of Waikoloa Elementary School, where scores of evacuees found temporary refuge.

The principal checked on her residence yesterday morning to find the fire had scorched undergrowth up to 20 feet from her door and left ash inside the condominium.

Fire crews continued trying to contain the blaze, which had charred more than 25,000 acres along the Kohala Coast on the west side of the island.

The evacuation order had affected 75% of the town’s 6,500 residents, said Hawaii County Civil Defence Agency acting administrator Lanny Nakano. Officials turned a community centre and elementary school into evacuation centres, a resort opened its ballroom to evacuees and another school offered dorm rooms.

The blaze started on Monday as a small brush fire.

Elsewhere on the island, another fire jumped Akoni Pule Highway and had burned more than 2,000 acres.

County officials used bulldozers, helicopters and ground crews to contain the flames. One house had been threatened, but firefighters were able to cut a fire break around it, said Fire Chief Darryl Oliviera.

On the mainland, officials in Washington state said residents of about 75 homes who had evacuated on Monday when a wildfire closed in were allowed to return home yesterday.

However, the returnees and residents of 70 other homes were under notice they might have to evacuate again in the area near Lake Wenatchee in central Washington. The blaze had charred nearly 1,000 acres and was only 20% contained.

Large fires also were active yesterday in Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Utah, the National Interagency Fire Centre reported. So far this year, wildfires have charred 4.7 million acres, compared with 5.5 million acres at the same time last year, the centre said.