Brush fire starts in Hawaii's Makua Valley

July 25, 2010 A wildfire rages along the mountainside of Makua Valley near Kaeana Point, on the Hawaiian island of. firefighters were called in at 2 pm yesterday (local time). A Wikinews contributor was on the scene with a camera.

Local and federal firefighters responded to the fire with trucks and helicopters. The website of a local TV news service reported this morning that 100 (40 ) had burned, but that no buildings were under threat.

Wikinews does not know how the fire started. The beach across the street is a popular camping area, so a campfire or cigarette may have set the mountainside ablaze.

Makua Valley is on the north western corner of Oahu, about 40  (65 ) by road from Honolulu, Hawaii's capital. The purchased three tracts of land for  emplacements in the 1920s, and has used Makua Valley as a live fire training range ever since (with some interruptions due to legal challenges.)