Name: Wildfire in Hawaii, September 1 to 6, 2006
Start: 2006-09-01T00:27
End: 2006-09-06T19:00
Location: Hawaii

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS HFO wrote it up.

A fire blackened 4000 acres of mainly dry brush upslope from Maalaea on the island of Maui. The blaze forced the closure of Honoapiilani Highway for many hours on the 1st into the early hours of the 2nd. This caused major traffic problems throughout Central and West Maui. Many nearby homes and businesses had to be evacuated on the 1st as well. As many as 75 firefighters with ground equipment and four helicopters battled the fire at any one time. However, there were no serious injuries or property damage reported. The cause of the fire was unknown.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Honolulu, HI wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 31, 8:30 PM HST, 3 hours 57 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 31, 8:30 PM HST, 3 hours 57 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI
830 PM HST THU AUG 31 2006

.SYNOPSIS...
HIGH PRESSURE LOCATED FAR NORTHEAST OF THE MAIN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
WILL KEEP MODERATE TRADE WINDS BLOWING ACROSS THE ISLANDS THROUGH
THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. MOST CLOUDS AND SHOWERS WILL BE LIMITED TO
WINDWARD SLOPES...AND LEE SLOPES OF THE BIG ISLAND IN THE AFTERNOON
AND EVENING.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
MODERATE TRADE WINDS PREVAILED ACROSS THE MAIN HAWAIIAN ISLANDS...
BUT PRECIPITATION ACROSS THE ISLANDS WAS LESS THAN TYPICAL FOR SUCH
CONDITIONS. ONLY A FEW HUNDREDTHS OF AN INCH WERE RECORDED AT A
HANDFUL OF SITES FROM LEE CONVECTION ON THE BIG ISLAND...WHILE
USUALLY WET WINDWARD AREAS REPORTED ESSENTIALLY NO ACCUMULATION.
MODERATELY SHOWERY LOW CLOUDS VISIBLE IN SATELLITE IMAGES UPWIND OF
THE ISLANDS SUGGESTED THAT WINDWARD AREAS WOULD EXPERIENCE MORE
RAINFALL AFTER MIDNIGHT HST...THOUGH A SOLID TRADE-WIND INVERSION
SUGGESTED THAT OROGRAPHIC SHOWERS WOULD BE LIMITED IN THEIR VERTICAL
DEVELOPMENT.

STRONG HIGHS BOTH AT THE SURFACE TO THE NORTH AND ALOFT OVERHEAD ARE
EXPECTED TO MAINTAIN TRADE-WIND CONDITIONS ACROSS THE ISLANDS
THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD. HOWEVER...THE MODELS HINT AT THE
APPROACH OR DEVELOPMENT OF A WEAK TROUGH OR LOW EAST OF THE ISLANDS
FROM SUNDAY AFTERNOON INTO SUNDAY NIGHT. THIS FEATURE APPEARS
STRONGEST IN THE GFS SOLUTIONS...EVEN AFFECTING THE SURFACE WIND
FIELD. ON THE OTHER HAND...THE NOGAPS AND UKMET MAINLY JUST INCREASE
PRECIPITATION TO THE EAST OF THE ISLANDS. THIS FEATURE...IF REAL...
PROBABLY REPRESENTS A MID-LEVEL WEAKNESS OR LOW IN THE RIDGE ALOFT.
EVEN IF SUCH A FEATURE DOES FORM...THE MODELS DO NOT EXPECT IT TO
REACH THE ISLANDS...SO ITS MAIN EFFECT ON THE STATE MAY BE TO
CONVERGE A VOLUME OF ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE...WHICH IN TURN WOULD BE
LIKELY TO INCREASE TRADE-WIND SHOWERS A BIT ONCE IT IS BLOWN OVER
WINDWARD SLOPES ON MONDAY. AT PRESENT...THE EXISTENCE OF THIS
FEATURE IS STILL QUESTIONABLE...SO IT SEEMS BEST TO INCLUDE ITS
EFFECTS INCREMENTALLY OVER SEVERAL FORECAST PACKAGES. OTHERWISE...
THE FORECAST WILL APPROACH CLIMATOLOGY THROUGH THE PERIOD.

&&

.HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.

&&

RYSHKO

Event by event

1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.

Wildfire, Maui Central Valley

When: September 1, 12:27 AM HST to September 6, 7:00 PM HST
Where: Maui Central Valley forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

What these are

Wildfire: A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Hawaii in 2006 Every state in 2006 This day in weather history Warnings in Hawaii, September 2006

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5534351.