Wildfire in Hawaii, May 1 to 31, 1998

An area of about 1700 acres burned near the 15-mile marker on the Mamalahoa Highway in the North Kona District during the second week of May. This was one of the 167 brush fires that scorched parts of the Island of Hawaii during the first five months of 1998. These fires had burned more than 14,000 acres through the end of May. As a comparison, over the same time frame last year, the Big Island had had 183 fires that affected only 820 acres. More land was burned in 1998 because of the combination of drought conditions from El Nino and an abundance of overgrowth and underbrush that acted as fuel for the fires. It has cost Hawaii County more than $3 million to fight the blazes so far this year.At the same time, brush fires seared hundreds of acres on Oahu as well. From the central parts of the island to the western shores, 452 fires occurred in the first five months of this year. This is compared to 124 fires over the same time period in 1997. Cost figures for fighting the blazes on Oahu are not yet complete, but the Department of Land and Natural Resources has spent about $269 thousand just to contend with 12 upper-elevation wild fires since the beginning of January.