VIDEO: Burned Out Vehicle Found at Center of Waiehu Fire

Maui firefighters found a burned out vehicle at the center of the three-quarter-acre fire in Waiehu on Wednesday morning.

The incident was reported at around 9:19 a.m. on Wednesday, May 10, 2017 in the former macadamia nut fields mauka of Kahekili Highway, between Waiehu Beach Road and Makaʻala Drive.

Wailuku firefighters and a Kahului water tanker crew responded to the incident, arriving at around 9:23 a.m. to find a 50 x 50 foot area of heavy brush on fire about 50 feet in from the highway.

Maui Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto said thick vegetation made it difficult for crews to make access and to extinguish the fire. The blaze was under control at 9:52 a.m. and extinguished at 11 a.m.

When the fire was finally put out, crews found a burned out vehicle at the center of the fire. FSC Taomoto said it’s not known whether the vehicle was being driven at the time and may have started the fire, or if it was the brush fire that consumed the vehicle parked in the brush.

The cause of the fire was undetermined. There were no injuries or structures threatened.