![]() The earliest blaze reported by Maui County officials was described as a brush fire in the Olinda Road area of Kula, a town in the island's Upcountry region, where wildfires eventually burned through about 700 acres and claimed 19 homes. That, along with low humidity and high winds, "set the conditions for the wildfires," he said. Kenneth Hara, commander general of the Hawaii Army National Guard, said at a briefing Wednesday, Aug. "We don't know what actually ignited the fires, but we were made aware in advance by the National Weather Service that we were in a red flag situation - so that's dry conditions for a long time, so the fuel, the trees and everything, was dry," Maj. Much of Hawaii was under a red flag warning for fire risk when the wildfires broke out, with dangerous high wind conditions caused by Hurricane Dora, a Category 4 storm that was moving across the Pacific Ocean hundreds of miles south of the Hawaiian islands. Investigators are looking into whether downed power lines and decisions by Hawaiian Electric, the state's primary power company, played a role. ![]() An investigation is underway to determine what initially sparked the wildfires, and the cause has not been officially determined.
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