Wildland Fire Danger Elevated in Hawaii with Drought in Forecast

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,.......b„• w.,.,..w w aa.....u• ... u. w .Uu5,.1t IVIcAed4L *tar ducrtiscr Tuesday, December 18. 2018 1 74` HAWAii NEWS nut) .rr www.starauvernser_comizu 1 sr/ 11/ 1 a/hawau-newsrwildland-fir... TT4I-1 E,QT I Wildland fire danger elevated in Hawaii with drought in forecast BY Posted December 18, 2018 December 18, 2018 Updated December 17. 2019 11:$4pm The National Interagency Fire Center is predicting that Hawaii will be especially vulnerable to wildland fire this winter as drought appears to be setting in under developing El Nino weather conditions. In addition, a new study from a University of Hawaii-Manoa researcher indicates that the islands will be at increasing risk of wildfire due to climate change. The study, which focused on Hawaii island, found the annual risk of wildfire increasing as much as 375 percent for parts of the island over the next several decades. As for current conditions across the islands, the latest U.S. Drought Monitor data show abnormally dry conditions reaching out to more than 41 percent of the state, mostly leeward locations and including all of Lanai and Kahoolawe. On the Big island, officials with Hawaii Volcanoes National Park announced Monday the closure of Mauna Loa Road at the gate near the Kipukapuaulu parking area due to "Very High Fire Danger." "The strong winds and dry weather over the past week has led to a rapid escalation of fire danger on Mauna Loa, and fire danger indexes have reached critical thresholds at the Mauna Loa weather station," the park's fire management officer, Greg Funderburk, said in a release. The increasing dryness of the islands comes after two months of drought -free weather followed by the second- wettest dry season in the past 30 years, of 3 12/18/2018, 9:26 AM