(ETH) – Firefighters are continuing to fight off what is now being deemed the largest wildfire in Hawaii’s history according to The Guardian. That blaze has torched more than 62 sq miles (160 sq km) and destroyed two homes.
The dangers posed by the fire receded on Tuesday, allowing for evacuation orders that had forced thousands to leave their homes to be lifted. Mike Walker, the state fire protection forester for the department of land and natural resources, said the total area burned could end up being the most the state has ever seen.
“It is pretty significant,” he said, adding that sustained 30mph winds with gusts of up to 50mph drove the fire roughly 100 acres an hour through Saturday and Sunday. Airborne crews observed walls of flame that shot and spiraled 200ft into the air atop the blaze, which was fueled by the desiccated landscape. “It was a perfect storm of drought conditions,” Walker said.
“It’s the biggest (fire) we’ve ever had on this island,” Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said of the more than 62-square-mile blaze according to USA Today. “With the drought conditions that we’ve had, it is of concern.
You see something like this where you’re putting thousands of homes in danger, it’s very concerning.” One homeowner said he tried to protect his property but lost the battle as the wind picked up. “I had a dozer on my lawn, my land, and I tried to make a fire break,” Joshua Kihe of the community of Waimea told Hawaii News Now. He said the fire destroyed his home, but he plans to rebuild.
