One Acre Makawao Cane Fire Deemed Accidental

An accidental cane fire was sparked by machinery during maintenance operations on Friday evening in a fallow sugar cane field off of the Haleakalā Highway at Keahua Road.

Fire officials say a tractor was being used to flatten the field of 8-foot tall cane that had grown back since its final harvest.

During the operation, the dry cane was somehow ignited by the machinery at around 6:03 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 17, burning about one acre before firefighters arrived.

A crew from the Makawao Fire Station and a water tanker from Kahului assisted personnel from Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company in containing the fire and bringing it under control.

HC&S personnel remained on scene to extinguish the fire.