Here’s what fueled Lahaina’s raging wildfire and how we can reduce future risk - Hawaii News Now

Here’s what fueled Lahaina’s raging wildfire and how we can reduce future risk

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Raging wildfires that tore through Maui and devastated historic Lahaina town have raised some important questions: What might have fueled a wildfire of this magnitude and will there be more like it in the future?

“We’ve seen fires like this in the past, destructive fires as well, even in Lahaina and around West Maui, but obviously, the level of devastation that we saw there is just sort of incomprehensible,” said Clay Trauernicht, wildfire expert at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Experts points to a number of factors that might’ve led to a wildfire of this scale: powerful winds, extremely low humidity and underlying draught.

On Aug. 8, a strong area of high pressure north of the state and a low pressure system south of the state in the form of Hurricane Dora contributed to powerful winds that fanned the flames.

But Trauernicht said the overall landscape played a major role. Land that was once used for agriculture has turned into areas where non-native grasses — like guinea grass and haole koa — have taken over.

“And that’s just really a function of the fuels, right? All that grass that’s out on the landscape, which really connects us to the kind of a longer history here in Hawaii of agricultural land use and then subsequent abandonments where the footprint of our agricultural operations have been shrinking since about the 1960s,” he said.

As research shows climate change is a key factor in increasing wildfire risk, Trauernicht said the time to take action is now.

“The big thing people are exploring now, especially when you have these really extreme conditions of wind … is actually converting these fuels, these grasslands, to do something else,” Trauernicht said, adding that some ideas include establishing fire breaks, working with ranchers for targeted grazing, looking at other vegetation types and providing more infrastructure for firefighters.

“We used these lands in the past. There’s no reason that we cannot do something more productive with them in the future that would also reduce risk. Anything that we’re doing, it would be better than nothing, which is kind of what we’re looking at right now.”

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