Wildfire, Central Oahu
- When
- August 1, 3:10 PM HST to August 6, 6:00 PM HST
- Where
- Central Oahu forecast zone
- Injuries
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- Newspaper
- Coordinates
- 21.455, -157.961 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in Hawaii, August 1 to 6, 2015
Two fires in central Oahu near Wahiawa scorched about 500 acres of brush. The blazes forced the evacuation of some buildings on a Navy installation and around 100 homes for a time.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- 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.
Two fires in central Oahu near Wahiawa scorched about 500 acres of brush. The blazes forced the evacuation of some buildings on a Navy installation and around 100 homes for a time. Schools in the area were closed for a couple of days because of smoke. However, no significant property damage was reported. One Honolulu Fire Department firefighter sustained a leg injury and was hospitalized, though the problem was not life-threatening. The cause of the fires was not known.
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 1, 11:46 AM HST, 3 hours 24 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 1, 11:46 AM HST, 3 hours 24 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HONOLULU HI 1146 AM HST SAT AUG 1 2015 .UPDATE... MINOR CHANGES TO THE WIND FORECAST ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY FOR HURRICANE GUILLERMO/S ADJUSTED TRACK AND INTENSITY. && .SYNOPSIS... MODERATE TO FRESH TRADES WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MONDAY...THEN WEAKEN BY TUESDAY AS HURRICANE GUILLERMO DISRUPTS THE FLOW. SHOWERS WILL INCREASE AS REMNANT MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH FORMER TROPICAL DEPRESSION 08E REACH THE ISLANDS TODAY AND ON SUNDAY...WITH BEST CHANCES OF RAIN OVER WINDWARD AND SOUTHEASTERN PORTIONS OF THE BIG ISLAND. THE FORECAST FOR NEXT WEEK WILL BE HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON THE EVENTUAL TRACK OF HURRICANE GUILLERMO...BUT ANTICIPATING A WET WEATHER PATTERN ACROSS THE ISLANDS TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT. && .PREV DISCUSSION.../ISSUED 959 AM HST SAT AUG 1 2015/ A BROAD HIGH PRESSURE IS CENTERED FAR NORTH OF THE STATE DRIVING MODERATE TO FRESH TRADES ACROSS THE ISLANDS THROUGH MONDAY. VISIBLE SATELLITE AND RADAR SHOW SCATTERED CLOUDS AND SHOWERS IMPACTING THE WINDWARD SIDES OF THE ISLANDS THIS MORNING WITH MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES ACROSS THE LEEWARD AREAS. TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO BE WARM WITH HIGHS IN THE UPPER 80S TO LOW 90S AND LOWS IN THE MID 70S...BUT THE BREEZES WILL MAKE CONDITIONS A LITTLE MORE BEARABLE. THE BIG ISLAND WILL BE IMPACTED BY CLOUDS AND RAINFALL ASSOCIATED WITH THE REMAINS OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION 08E TODAY THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT OR MONDAY. THUNDERSTORMS HAVE RECENTLY REFORMED NEAR THE CENTER OF 08E...BUT THESE WILL LIKELY PASS SOUTH OF THE BIG ISLAND AS THE MOISTURE EXPECTED TO IMPACT WILL BE ON THE NORTHERN PERIPHERY OF THE POST-TROPICAL CYCLONE. WINDWARD AND SOUTHEAST PORTIONS OF THE BIG ISLAND WILL BE MOST IMPACTED BY THE RAIN...AND COULD BECOME LOCALLY HEAVY AT TIMES. TRADE WINDS WILL CARRY SOME OF THE MOISTURE FROM 08E OVER THE WINDWARD SMALLER ISLANDS TONIGHT AND SUNDAY...BUT SHOWERS WILL NOT BE AS CONCENTRATED AS ON THE BIG ISLAND. MODELS SHOW WINDS WEAKENING ACROSS HAWAII MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY AS HURRICANE GUILLERMO BEGINS TO DISRUPT THE TRADE WIND FLOW. WE WILL BEGIN TO FEEL THE EFFECTS OF GUILLERMO BY TUESDAY NIGHT WITH AN INCREASE IN CLOUD COVER AND RAINFALL. THESE EFFECTS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT AS GUILLERMO REACHES OR PASSES NEAR THE ISLANDS. HOWEVER...IT IS IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND THAT THE OVERALL FORECAST SCENARIO WILL CONTINUE TO EVOLVE DURING THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS AS NEW TRACK AND INTENSITY FORECASTS ARE ISSUED. LONG RANGE MODELS SHOW MODERATE TO LOCALLY FRESH TRADE WINDS BUILDING BACK OVER THE STATE THIS WEEKEND. && .AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS PREVAIL AT MOST TAF SITES WITH THE EXCEPTIONS OF PHTO PHNY AND PHLI WHERE THERE HAS BEEN OCCASIONAL MVFR CONDITIONS BEING REPORTED DUE TO LOW CLOUDS AND SHRA. EXPECT THESE CONDITIONS TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE DAY ESPECIALLY AT PHTO AS MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH FORMER TROPICAL DEPRESSION 08E MOVES INTO THE BIG ISLAND FROM THE EAST. AIRMET SIERRA REMAINS POSTED OVER THE WINDWARD BIG ISLAND SLOPES DUE TO LOW CLOUDS AND SHRA. AIRMET TANGO REMAINS POSTED OVER AND IMMEDIATELY SOUTH AND WEST OF MOUNTAIN RANGES OF ALL ISLANDS DUE TO MODERATE TO FRESH TRADE WINDS. && .MARINE... A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY /SCA/ IS IN EFFECT OVER THE TYPICALLY WINDIER AREAS AROUND MAUI AND THE BIG ISLAND THROUGH 6 AM HST SUNDAY. THE SCA IS IN EFFECT FOR BREEZY TRADE WINDS ACCELERATING THROUGH THE ISLAND TERRAIN. THE DRIVING HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO WEAKEN AND SLIDE NORTHEAST AWAY FROM THE STATE SUNDAY OR MONDAY WHICH WILL ALLOW WINDS TO WEAKEN. HURRICANE GUILLERMO...LOCATED FAR EAST-SOUTHEAST OF THE BIG ISLAND...WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE TOWARD THE WEST NORTHWEST AND REACH THE CENTRAL PACIFIC WATERS LATER TODAY. ALTHOUGH THE TRACK AND INTENSITY OF THE TROPICAL CYCLONE REMAINS UNCERTAIN SO FAR IN THE FUTURE...ADVERSE EFFECTS FOR HAWAIIAN COASTAL WATERS NEXT WEEK CAN NOT BE RULED OUT. THAT BEING SAID...SWELL GENERATED FROM GUILLERMO IS AIMED TOWARDS HAWAII FROM THE EAST-SOUTHEAST. ANTICIPATING FORERUNNERS FROM THIS SWELL TO REACH THE EASTERN PART OF THE STATE AS EARLY AS SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THE SWELL WILL BUILD SURF HEIGHTS TO ADVISORY HEIGHTS ALONG THE EAST FACING SHORES BY SUNDAY NIGHT WHICH WILL LIKELY LINGER THROUGH MUCH OF THE WEEK AS GUILLERMO REACHES OR PASSES BY HAWAII. A HIGH SURF ADVISORY WILL LIKELY GO INTO EFFECT SUNDAY AFTERNOON OR NIGHT FOR EAST FACING SHORES. && .HFO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY UNTIL 6 AM HST SUNDAY FOR MAALAEA BAY- PAILOLO CHANNEL-ALENUIHAHA CHANNEL-BIG ISLAND LEEWARD WATERS-BIG ISLAND SOUTHEAST WATERS. && UPDATE/DISCUSSION/MARINE...FOSTER AVIATION...BURKE
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
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
- Rip Currents in New York, August 1 to 2, 2015
- Heat in Arizona, August 1, 2015
- Flash Flooding and Hail in New Mexico, August 1, 2015
- Flooding and Heavy Rain in Florida, August 1 to 5, 2015
- Heat in Oklahoma, August 1 to 5, 2015
- Flash Flooding and Flooding in Florida, August 1 to 2, 2015
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Maine, August 1, 2015
- Marine Thunderstorm Winds in Gulf of Mexico, August 1, 2015
- Drought in California, August 1 to 31, 2015
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Minnesota, August 1, 2015
- Marine Thunderstorm Winds in South Atlantic Coastal Waters, August 1 to 2, 2015
- Drought in California, August 1 to 31, 2015
More
Every storm in Hawaii in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Hawaii, August 2015
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: 595803.