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<br />?: Chief Todd: And the following day the dozer lines that had been put in the night before <br />– the wind started picking up into drastic levels – were jumped by the fire and berms <br />and other things had been whipped around and by-passed everything. And so by day <br />two the fire had expanded to about a 14,000-acre fire and we realized we were rapidly <br />losing the ability to manage and control it – at which time we started bringing in units <br />from pretty much anywhere we could find them. <br /> <br />?: So we got word that the fire had lost control in the evening time on Friday – so Friday <br />night – so my wife and I, my daughter and son-in-law – we went up, you know, to pray <br />and watch and see what we could do and watch – this fire was just out of control <br />heading our way. <br /> <br />?: So for the Mana Road fire we provided several ground base trucks as well as their <br />assets. We were able to call in assistance from Oahu to augment the usual medevac <br />crew that’s here. We were able to deploy dozers, bull dozers from our Department of <br />Public Works as well as fire engines, water tankers, brush trucks, ETVs and we also <br />brought in a six-person hand crew from Oahu. <br /> <br />?: My commanders in Oahu – the Commanding General of U S Army Hawai’i pushed as <br />much support as he could as quickly as he could. I called him on Friday afternoon and <br />told him this fire is something that could potentially get out of control. I’d like to put <br />some helicopter assets at the ready and did so immediately and then on Saturday he <br />pushed two Black Hawk \[interruption\] and then on Sunday he pushed 3 additional <br />helicopters over – two more Black Hawks and then one \[interruption\] helicopter – their <br />assets were incredibly important. I think when you talk to the experts – the fire captains <br />and chiefs – when these fires get so large it ends up being an air fight and a dozer fight <br />with the fire fighters on the ground – being very strategic with how they attack the fire <br />from the grounds. <br /> <br />?: We were really fortunate on this Island that we have a really good relationship with the <br />Pohakuloa Fire Department, Hawai’i County Fire Department as well as the National <br />Park and we all come together to combat these fires together but without the <br />community support there’s no way that we would be successful especially on an <br />incident this large. <br /> <br />?: Chief Todd: Through the concerted effort of all of the local county agencies as well as <br />state and federal we were able to – basically try to do the best we could to put down <br />the fire and eventually prevent as much damage as possible. <br /> <br />?: You know in this time and age, you know, it’s hard to find those times where people can <br />come together and neighbors, friends, there’s good people out there that came <br />together and helped save property and, of course, people’s lives, yeah? I’m really <br />grateful for that - that was awesome – thank God. \[Music\] \[End of video\] <br />3 <br /> <br /> <br />