Brush fire burns 50 acres near Sandy Beach

Firefighters were called to the area near Sandy Beach around 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning to battle a brush fire, but brush wasn’t the only thing on fire.

"Upon our arrival and responding to this alarm we found the vehicle on fire and all this brush on fire," said Capt. Rick Karasaki of the Honolulu Fire Department.

Officials believe the vehicle fire started the brush fire. The driver was nowhere to be found when they got to the scene.
Firefighters brought the fire under control just after 12:30 p.m., about an hour after it started.

"We have a red flag advisory which means it’s very bad for fire spread and very challenging for firefighters when dealing with brush and wild land firefighting," Karasaki says.

Police initially shut down both lanes of Kalanianaole Highway at Sandy Beach, but eventually opened one lane for contraflow.

"The fire spread pretty close to the golf course, but did not extend into the golf course property. Maybe about 30 yards away from the property line of the golf course," Karasaki says.

In all the fire burned about fifty acres.