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On a recent morning at about 6 a.m., harvesting manager Mark Lopes of Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company called to check wind conditions in advance of a planned sugar cane field burn. Some Maui residents have long opposed the burns for health reasons.

An irrigation crew from the company’s Puunene sugar mill drove past shortly before the burn began. AC&S employed about 675 people when the year began.

A “fire boy” rolled up to ignite the sugar cane with a propane torch on the downwind side of a field near Spanish Road south of Kahului.

More sections of the field were torched. The company said that burning removes unproductive leafy material that makes up 20 to 25 percent of the cane plant.

The company announced in January that it would close its plantation by year’s end. Despite that, a lawsuit brought by a group called Stop Cane Burning led to a settlement in May that prohibited any burning after Dec. 25.

More fires were set on the upwind side of the sugar cane field.

As flames and smoke erupted, Lopes monitored the burn. After the leaves were incinerated, the stalks were left for harvesting.

After a burn near Omaopio, a truck was loaded with sugar cane stalks for transport to the mill in Puunene

The truck kicked up a cloud of red dirt as it began its trip to the mill. The 14-foot-tall, 84-foot-long Tournahauler can carry up to 55 tons per load.

A man headed in for an early morning work shift at the sugar mill in in Puunene, which still operates 24 hours a day despite the impending shutdown.