Haleakalā Crater Road Fire Update: How Operations Command and Situational Awareness Have Evolved Since Maui’s Wildfires Last August: Maui Now

Firefighters battling the Haleakalā Crater Road fire are facing difficult challenges: difficult terrain, lava fields on the mauka side, soft ground when cutting firebreaks at the bottom, swirling afternoon winds, and low humidity. The fire has burned 574 acres of land since it started on Wednesday, July 10, 2024. As of Monday morning, July 15, it was 80% contained.

Maui fire officials point out that while every fire is different, they have identified new technologies and organizational structures that have helped to better connect emergency responders.

Maui Fire Chief Brad Ventura said crews on the scene, thanks to assistance from Alpha, Goodfellow Bros. and Haleakalā Ranch, have put dozer lines around about 70% of the fire, and emergency dozer lines around the southwest corner, about a quarter mile outside the perimeter. As of this morning, dozer lines at the top of the fire, above the eucalyptus trees, had not yet closed.

“The perimeter of this fire is six kilometers long – only a quarter of a mile of it is along a road. So the helicopters have multiple tasks: not only fighting the fire, but also transporting firefighters,” he said.

The department uses drone technology at night to provide situational awareness and detect fire outbreaks. During the day, up to seven helicopters drop water to fight the fire.

“In total, since the fire started, at the height of our efforts, we have moved over half a million gallons of water up the hill to fight this fire,” Ventura said. He said air crews dropped over 63,000 gallons of water on the fire on Friday and Saturday alone.

“The altitude up there brings its own challenges. The relative humidity up there is very low – so that increases our fire risk. And then clouds come in in the afternoon, so our planes have to stay on the ground,” Ventura said. “And then the high winds have been coming and going all week. When there are higher winds, of course, we have a lot more flare-ups,” he said, reminding the public to remain vigilant as emergency crews will continue to put out fires within the perimeter.

Amos Lonokailua-Hewett, Maui’s emergency management director, outlined the goals of the emergency operations center, including:

• Ensuring public safety, starting with concerns about the 200 cut-off vehicles and the possibility that the fire could spread and trigger an evacuation.
• Coordinate resources and response efforts and ensure they are integrated into the incident command system.
• Collect and disseminate information to the public in a timely manner and share this information with partners to optimize coordination.
• Support the restoration and repair of critical infrastructure in coordination with partners.

Acting Governor Sylvia Luke said red flag warnings have become the “new normal.” “This is a time when we all need to be vigilant, not just in terms of preparing for hurricanes, but also for wildfires. We have compassion and empathy for the people – especially in the Kula area – because they have already experienced tremendous trauma,” she said.

When asked about the situation assessment, the operational management structure and the improvements since last year, Fire Chief Ventura said: “The more of our organizations we can bring together on site into a unified operational management, the easier the communication between the authorities will be.”

“We’ve been working for over a year to further refine it and make it more routine,” Ventura said. “That will help. And as far as technologies go… we’ve implemented things like our drone program, which gives us better situational awareness, not just during the day but at night. Even that program itself still has room for improvement, because right now we’re either flying aircraft or drones, but not at the same time. But eventually we’ve got to get to a point where we can fly both together because they provide different information to command.”

Mayor Richard Bissen said, “I think we all understand that every fire is different – and this fire is different than the many fires that occurred last year. So this time five – that’s how it was last year. I think the most obvious difference is that we have a different team running our EOC, with different skills… In terms of lessons learned, I think we’re still trying to improve with each event.”

Although there were no injuries or damage to buildings, Bissen was aware of the fear of the residents.

“I just want to acknowledge the concerns that our community is having right now – the fear, the stress, the memories that are bringing back for people. And we want to make sure our community is aware of the help that is available – especially our kula, ʻohana who have had to relive this so close to their homes,” said Mayor Richard Bissen.

Mental health support is available, with the county offering resources through the website mauirecovers.org and the Hawaii Crisis Line at 988. “We want to encourage our citizens who are experiencing grief and anxiety to call those numbers and reach out,” he said. The state’s support line at 808-446-6676 provides information on resources available to residents.

Mayor Bissen urged community members and visitors to remain vigilant and stay in touch.