MOLOKA’I, Hawaii – The theft of a fire hose prompted Erin Peyton into getting residents, landowners, and agencies to work together to reduce hazardous fuels in her community.
Peyton, a former resident of California, is a homeowner and is also known as Paniolo Hale Firewise USA Lead. She resides in Paniolo Hale located on the island of Moloka’i, Hawai’i. Moloka’i, part of Maui County, is the state’s fifth-largest island and is known for its largely untouched natural landscape and for having some of the highest cliffs in the world. The Ultimate Guide to Molokai: Information, Activities & More (hawaii-guide.com).
“I had only been in Hawaii for two years when I found myself working towards wildfire mitigation. This is not something I had done before. It all started when someone stole the fire hoses in the townhome complex, I live at,” said Peyton. “Having lived in California, I was aware of alternative proactive means to working with wildfires and aware of how devastating a wildfire can be and what they can do. You must be prepared.”
The southwest end of Molokai is where Peyton resides. Peyton mentioned that over 100 years ago it was primarily ranch land inhabited by grazing cattle. Grasses were planted as cattle fodder. After 100 years of invasive grasses, less than 10 percent endemic species are left in the lower west end. Many native plants are fire wise. The invasive species created fire fuels. Green waste (waste that arises from landscaping or gardening work and generally consists of leaves, twigs, small branches, bushes, and grass), construction waste, and household waste were dumped on ranchlands. All of which created a huge stock of fuel for fires on the west end.
“So, knowing that we are living in condos and are in the middle of a160-acre golf course that was abandoned many years ago and it's not maintained, that we have no fire station, and the response time is at least 30 minutes, and we are surrounded by vegetation that’s not well kept, we needed to take action,” said Peyton.
Prior to applying for a grant to execute the wildfire mitigation project, Peyton sought support from community members, the local fire department and local forestry agency. For the project to be beneficial, it had to be a collaborative effort.
“Respect and wildfire mitigation education are our best practices to forming long-term trusting relationships. It takes a collaborative effort to keep people wildfire aware,” said Peyton.
A wildfire risk assessment was completed in 2019 by Hawai’i Wildfire Management Organization and presented to the townhouse community along with recommendation for actions to be taken.
According to Peyton, the first plan of action included creating fuel breaks.
A fuel break is a strip or block of land on which the vegetation and debris have been reduced and/or modified to control or diminish the risk of the spread of fire crossing the strip or block of land. It’s typically an easily accessible strip of land of varying width (depending on fuel and terrain), where fuel density is reduced, resulting in positive impacts to fire behavior and providing fire control opportunities. Microsoft Word - 383-SpecsJobSheetTemplate-WNTSC.doc (usda.gov)
Mitigation measures utilized in creating the fuel breaks included:
- Creating access roadway and defensible space so fire trucks could enter community.
- Cutting woody, dry, fire prone vegetation within 50 feet of structures
- Lowering grasses
- Mulching trees in - place
- Removing heavy fire fuel load debris
- Eliminating a vehicle ignition zone
“The yellow areas are where access roads were constructed. The green stars depict fuel break areas. Four fuel breaks are represented by yellow stars. The blue stars represent access roads. These were the higher risk areas. Knowing the nature of the Winds and knowing the nature of historic wildfires these will be our first defense. These have been cut to 50 feet from structures. The grasses were lowered. The trees were mulched in place,” said Peyton.
“We can use the mulch to help suppress future growth of grasses and more trees. This is about a four- or five-year project of dumping the mulch on these access roads to really prevent growth. So, we'll be watching them and maintaining them for a few years,” said Peyton.
Peyton mentioned that the red area is a project that had heavy fuels at Molokai Ranch. “The structures near it are all abandoned and there was a lot of construction debris that was removed that a few months ago. The pink stars indicate an area called a vehicle ignition Zone,” said Peyton.
“Grasses were cut away from the road so that, if a car pulls over, the grasses aren't tall, and it lessens the chance of catching fire,” said Peyton. “However, the first thing we did was create access roads so the fire trucks could get to us and so that if a fire comes through this is an area that's a defensible space."
According to Peyton, the wildfire mitigation project is ongoing.
“Over the years, we've gotten rid of green waste on the west end that creates a lot of fuel loads, piles from 30 to 100 feet on both lived in and abandoned structures,” said Peyton.
Fuel breaks aid in firefighting efforts by slowing fire spread, and by providing an area of less extreme fire behavior from which other actions are taken. However, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that under extreme conditions even properly designed fuel breaks cannot significantly reduce fire behavior in the event of large, rapidly spreading wildfires, regardless of the efforts of firefighters. Microsoft Word - 383-SpecsJobSheetTemplate-WNTSC.doc (usda.gov)
For additional information, visit:
The Ultimate Guide to Molokai: Information, Activities & More (hawaii-guide.com)
Microsoft Word - 383-SpecsJobSheetTemplate-WNTSC.doc (usda.gov)