Could this Hawaii community be the next Lahaina? Some residents fear a similar wildfire fate

Waianae, Hawaii – When there is enough rain, the extent of the vacancies behind Calvin Endo’s house looks like a lush and green landscape that makes Hawaii tropical famous. But in summer, when the jungle of excessive invasive herbs and branches of racked trees fades in brown, it fears that it can become a locked up landscape.

It is not Maui, where most of Lahaina burned during a solid forest fire in August 2023. The Duplex of Endo is in Waianae on the west side of Oahu.

But Waianae and Lahaina have a lot in common. They are both located on the coasts of the western island, with road access pinched by topography, and are bastions of indigenous Hawaiian culture. The two have sections crossed by airlines at the top of aging wooden posts, like those who fell into strong winds and caused Lahaina fire.

There is even a street in Lahaina in the heart of Makaha, the endo district along the coast of Waianae.

“It can happen to us,” said Endo, who moved to the Makaha Meadows subdivision in 1980, shortly after its construction. “We can have a rehearsal from Lahaina if someone does nothing about the brush in the back.”

In recent days, two forest fires a few kilometers, including a fire on July 6 which left a 94 -year -old woman, has proven that her worst fears could become reality.

Lahaina has provided the worst case of the destruction of whipped wind flashes powered by an invaded brush for almost two years. With 102 dead, it is the most deadly American forest in a century.

In the months later, the number of Hawaii communities participating in the Firewise Network, a program recognized at the national level which helps communities for resources for the safeguard of houses, has more than doubled at 35 – but none in the west of Oahu.

Even if the residents of Waianaae have long known their risk of forest fire, this is now one of its districts near the status of Firewise.

The communities become firewise by organizing a committee, by creating a risk assessment, developing an action plan and volunteering to reduce risks, such as the elimination of invaded brushes. Firewise follows the progress of a community, connects residents to experts and provides ideas and funding for attenuation, workshops and training.

The Forest Service of the American Department of Agriculture considers that Lahaina and Waianae are much more at risk than the other American communities for a forest fire, noted the head of the battalion of the fire service of Honolulu, Keith Ito.

“Time, the winds, they are almost identical,” he said. “With everything said, I think that the high -risk forest potential is a problem on the level of the state, not really specific to Waianaae or Lahaina.”

Nani Barretto, co -director of the Hawaii Forest Forest Management Organization, is struggling to understand why the communities subject to fires like Waianae have not yet joined the Firewise movement. There are also no Firewise communities on the island of Kauai.

“It is not because we are proactive to pass the word, the right people get the information,” she said. “For Maui, it took them a very devastating event to join.”

The organization of a community can be difficult because it forces residents to devote time and intensify as managers, she said.

Endo, who is a long -standing member of the board of directors of the Waianae coast district, had never even heard of Firewise until recently.

A development called Sea Country, near the district which was recently ordered to evacuate during a forest fire, is on the verge of becoming the Fist Firewise community in Waianae, said Andria Tupola, a resident who also represents the coast of the municipal council of Honolulu.

The process began around 2018 but took momentum after Lahaina, she said.

Sea Country recently completed a risk assessment and has planned certain mitigation events, including cleaning the park in August, said Ashley Bare, specialist in Firewise support for Oahu.

Lahaina also supplied the spark to open an emergency access route to Waianae, Tupola said. Farrington Highway, the main artery along the coast, can be obstructed with just an accident.

Military officials who control a mountain pass over Waianae began to speak of allowing civilians to access the road after Lahaina, she said. During the fire of July 6, state officials and soldiers were ready to open the road to get out of the coast and in the center of Oahu, said state representative Darius Kila, who represents the region.

A community of Hawaiian properties in the Nanakuli valley of Waianae also tries to reach the status of Firewise, said Diamond Badajos, spokesperson for the Hawaiian Native Land Department.

Hosting the largest concentration of native Hawaiians, Waianae is rich in Hawaiian culture and history. But a large part of the coast also fights against poverty and homelessness.

Residents got used to forest fires during the dry summer months, said Republican state representative Chris Muraoka: “It’s almost as if he was not burning, something is wrong.”

However, Muraoka said he thought that communities along the coast would benefit more from fire prevention and security in schools rather than organizing to be Firewise. Muraoka, who lives in Makaha, said that the communities of Waianae have unique needs that being Firewise may not address, including sections with neighborhoods that are more distributed than at Auhaina and flames that are often launched by fires or children playing with fire.

Some residents already do what they can, especially with the current dry season.

Endo often tries to clean brushing on a private property behind his house himself, to create a shot. Some properties of the Waianae valley use sheep to eat invaded vegetation.

The retired firefighter Shermaih “Bulla” IAEA remembers fighting shadows in the brush near the house of Endo and the Makaha primary school.

In 2018, his farm burned during the strong winds of a passing hurricane. He used a herd of sheep on his property until Wild Dogs kills them in April. The districts come together to become Firewise is another tool that will help, he said.

“There is a 100% chance that will happen here,” he said. “I thought it would never happen to me. Now I try to ring the bells. I try to ring the alarm. “

Being one of the poorest communities in the state is a major factor preventing the Waianae from becoming Firewise, said Kila, who lives near the place where the July 6 fire occurred.

Before the summer, the Democratic legislator sent a letter to Hawaiian electricity and telecommunications companies urging “immediate and coordinated measures” to combat the lines of dangerous public services and sagged on aging wooden posts along the coast.

We do not know why Makaha ended up with a long street named Lahaina, which can mean “relentless sun” in Hawaiian. But like the city of Maui Ouest, it corresponds to the sunny district of West Oahu, which houses the famous Makaha surfing beach.

Some districts above Lahaina Street are more recent and have underground public services, such as that of Endo. But to the ocean, the older districts are laid down by airlines.

This worries Glen Kila, a Hawaiian cultural practitioner in Waianae, who is not linked to Darius Kila. The power lines are blamed for having triggered Lahaina’s fire.

“If that happens to Waianae,” he said, “we are done.”