Supporting Local Fire Relief Efforts

Above: Photograph of the fire spreading on the West Maui Mountains on the evening of September 1, 2006. Red dots to the left of the fire burn area represent “hot spots.” The community of Maalea is visible near the shoreline. Click for full view. (Image: PDC/Rhett Rebold)

In the early hours of September 1, 2006, a large wildfire started that ultimately consumed approximately 4,000 uninhabited acres of brush on the southerly slopes of the West Maui Mountains. Due to the efforts of a substantial fire suppression operation, there were no casualties and minimal property damage. However, the spreading smoke and flames snarled traffic, stranded thousands, and forced evacuations and the opening of shelters in the towns of Lahaina and Kahului.

By the time the fire was officially controlled late on Wednesday, September 6, an intensive fire fighting effort had largely come to an end. The operation involved seven helicopters and fire fighters working in "rough terrain 2,000 to 2,500 feet above sea level," according to Maui County Deputy Fire Chief Neal Bal (via the Maui News).

Because of the rugged landscape, the fire suppression effort had a pressing need for detailed maps of the area.

To address this critical need, that same day PDC’s Senior Imagery Analyst, Rhett Rebold, provided a "pre-event" high-resolution satellite imagery map of the burning area to Maui County Fire Fighters who had set up an on-site operations center. Commanders on the ground were able to regularly update "burn/no-burn" areas on the map as the situation changed.

Says Glenn Shishido, the lead Department of Land and Natural Resources/Division of Forestry and Wildlife forester on Maui who was heavily involved in the effort, "the PDC’s imagery map was of great use not only because the fire could be tracked with its five-acre grid marking, but also because the imagery showed the location of actual fire fuels on the ground. This was an important input to the fire suppression strategies."

Shortly thereafter, Rebold and Project Specialist Todd Bosse were requested by Maui County Civil Defense to fly above the fire scene in a chopper owned by the locally-based company, Blue Hawaiian Helicopters. Like PDC, Blue Hawaiian is an active member of Maui Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD)—an umbrella of community-based organizations committed to disaster preparedness and response.

Left: Fire trace map product that was used by both responders and Hawaii State Civil Defense officials. Click for full view. (Image: PDC)

Rebold and Bosse’s gripping aerial photos from the afternoon’s mission were painstakingly processed into a detailed "fire trace map," (see inset) that was immediately put to use by Hawaii State Civil Defense staff at the State Emergency Operations Center in Honolulu as well as by Civil Defense officials in Maui County. That product provided both "situational awareness" to the fire fighting effort, and supported the State of Hawaii’s successful application for a federally-funded "Fire Management Assistance Grant" from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Says Rebold, "This emergency also highlights our close relationships with Maui VOAD members—such as the staff of Blue Hawaiian Helicopters—which puts us all in good shape to face local emergencies. In this case, a local business was able to provide generous and pivotal logistical support to PDC’s field operations, which was in turn urgently requested by Maui County Civil Defense. Blue Hawaiian donated the helicopter time and the time of one of their most experienced pilots, and their community-mindedness deserves praise. It was a true example of a public-private disaster management collaboration."

Above: Aerial photos taken by PDC’s field team of the burn areas on the West Maui Mountains. On the left, the fire can be observed spreading on both sides of the southerly slopes of the mountains. On the right, the actual fire flames are visible—they were observed to be has high as 40 feet at the time the photo was taken. Click on pictures for full view. (Images: PDC)