As temperatures rise, grass dries and winds pick up, communities in West Hawaii are preparing for peak fire season.

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As temperatures rise, grass dries and winds pick up, communities in West Hawaii are preparing for peak fire season.

Just days after a fire scorched 680 acres in South Kohala, three Hawaii Island organizations were recently awarded $625,000 to support mitigation efforts.

The money is part of $1.8 million that was awarded to groups statewide through the Hawaii Urban Interface Wildfire Grant Program, a partnership between the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The Kailapa Community Association in Kawaihae was one of the awardees, receiving $300,000. Board President Shawna Kaulukukui said it will be used to build on a previous Department of Hawaiian Home Lands project to install fencing to implement a managed grazing system for goats, sheep and cattle aimed at reducing potential fuel for fires around the arid community.

“We’re surrounded by approximately 360 acres of unmanaged dry land … .” Kaulukukui said. “So, if I can minimize that — so that we would give our kupunas and our families here in the community a little bit more time in the event that we ever have to evacuate, by creating a buffer between us and a fire — then I did my job.”

Kaulukukui said that fire is a top concern in the Kailapa Homestead community, which is just minutes from where the recent fire burned and near the site of another blaze in 2023, around the same time as the Lahaina Fire.

“Managing all this dry fuel that we have around our community is super important to me because we’ve had one too many close calls,” she said. “Not to mention, we only have a one-way in, one-way out access into the community and out of the community.”

HWMO co-executive director Nani Barretto said in a press release that the HUI grant program is aimed at empowering local communities to take action tailored to their unique circumstances.

“Wildfire risk looks different in every community, and these projects reflect that,” she said. “This funding allows organizations to address the specific risks facing their landscapes while protecting residents, homes, cultural resources and critical evacuation routes.”

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The other Hawaii Island grant awardees were West Kohala Fire Alliance and Wailea Property Owners Association.

While Kaulukukui said grants like this are helpful, she would also like more support from the local and state government to mitigate wildfire risk in the region.

“All the funding that we do get, you know, I gotta go look for it. It’s a hustle to try and get this funding to keep my community safe,” she said. “I would definitely like to see more done from the county and the state — not only the county and the state, but definitely DHHL.”

Adam Weintraub, a staff officer with Hawaii County Civil Defense, the agency that coordinates the county’s emergency responses, said that they also play a largely educational role in fire mitigation.

“A lot of the work that we do is in prevention and awareness … ,” he said. “This time of year, we do everything we can, whether it’s fire weather or it’s just an ordinary day in summer, to make sure people are aware.”

He added several practical measures people can take to protect themselves and their homes.

“You should be putting grids over the entries to your home so that sparks can’t get in, you should be making an assessment of your property to make sure there’s no flammable vegetation right up against the property, you should be looking for fuel ladders, where a fire might jump from dry grass to the tree overstory … that’s in addition to the regular ones, like don’t park on dry grass with a hot car. You know, be careful,” he said.

He said that the majority of fires in the state are human caused and that these efforts can go a long way.

“99% of wildfires in Hawaii are human caused, whether intentional or unintentional,” Weintraub said. “So, just a simple elevation in awareness of risk and the steps you can take to reduce that risk can make a huge difference.”

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Email Grace Inez Adams at [email protected].