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As residents of Maui continue to look for answers and a way forward after the disastrous Lahaina wildfires, here on Oahu we too face our own potential fire risk with so much dry brush around the island.

Living in the Royal Kunia part of Waipahu, I can tell you that we caught a lucky break last month with the “Kiapapa Ballroom fire” that affected Mililani . Much of central Oahu is often covered by dry or dead plants , a phenomena in which the mountains cause clouds to prematurely shed their precipitation on the ridges surrounding our area. Had winds been different, or if response had been botched, the entire area could have been burned.

The threat of so much dry, flammable biomass covering many parts of Oahu is something we should be worried about, not only in the wake of the Maui disaster, but also as we get closer to the new year where the launching of illegal fireworks presents an opportunity for wildfires.  Further, there are many dry areas near residential areas that are bordered by roads where motorists often carelessly toss burning cigarettes toward the grass.

Again, we have been lucky that accidents and arson have not caused a disaster like Lahaina here on Oahu, but we should start taking steps both as a community and at the policymaking level to keep our island safe from fire risk.

As one might expect, it is the responsibility of the landowner, government or private, to keep one’s lands well-maintained. However, because of the population density of Oahu and the fact that neglect of dry overgrowth is common, we find ourselves in a situation where we are at risk for fires and the traditional regulatory framework is insufficient. 

It may be necessary, in the coming 2024 state legislative session, to propose legislation which would allow a government agency the power to clear private land in instances where the owners are non-responsive or when so much dry brush accumulates as to represent a clear and present danger to population centers.

If I were Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi or Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, I would also be extremely concerned about the fire safety implications of the large military aviation presence in Hawaii. 

The U.S. military employs Oahu as a mountainous terrain training location to familiarize fixed and rotary-wing pilots before sending them to places like Africa or Southeast Asia, but accidents can happen. Recently, a Navy patrol plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Kaneohe. But what would have happened if it had crashed in an area with dry brush?

How quickly would we be able to reach and extinguish burning aviation fuel fires in a remote part of Central Oahu? Imagine if a large helicopter like a Marine CH-53E Super Stallion, or even  if an intercontinental commercial airliner, were to crash on an area with vast stretches of dry grass and brush.

This is not just a theoretical possibility: In Guam, a Korean Air 747-3B5 crashed on the mountains on Aug. 6, 1997, but fortunately the area was not dry so fires were contained. How would we be able to respond to that?

My aim in bringing these things to the public’s collective attention is not to be Oahu’s disaster porn columnist, but rather, to get all of us in a proactive, contingency-setting mindset where we are ready for any possibility that may threaten our safety. 

I have a few recommendations that our legislators should consider in the coming session. In addition to giving agencies the power to clear public and private lands of dry brush when the public safety is at risk, we also need to make sure that a Maui-like fire never happens anywhere in our state ever again by acquiring new early warning and firefighting resources.

Thanks to advances in compact computing and widespread commercialization of space, it is now possible to put cheap micro-satellites in orbit at prices that even universities have been able to afford. Hawaii could partner with a university or a geospatial intelligence company to put a satellite in orbit with highly sensitive infrared cameras that can monitor dry areas for thermal flashes even as small as a candle, giving county and state agencies the power to respond the minute a wildfire starts.

Alternatively,  or high endurance, hydrogen or solar-powered drones can also be mounted with sensor packages that can watch for fires. In the case of a high endurance, high altitude drone, arrays of dozens of small cameras on the aircraft can provide 24/7 wildfire early warning, and would even allow operators to “replay” an event and watch in reverse how an incident started. 

Hawaii also needs  and have a dedicated civil firefighting air force, consisting of both rotary and large-fixed wing fire suppression aircraft capable of dumping water on remote wildfires. , for example, has a range of 800 miles fully loaded and can drop 4,000 gallons of fire retardant over a wide area. 

If the Legislature were to invest in a statewide fire air force, we could base it  and scramble extinguishing missions in 15 minutes or less against any large fire in the state.

How would have Lahaina have turned out if, the minute the fires started, a satellite sent a flash alert to state authorities, and either the governor or lieutenant governor ordered our fire fighting air force to water bomb the conflagration? (Watch  I guarantee you’ll wish we’d had that capability.)

We can keep our people safe and be proactive, rather than reactive, in preventing more fire disasters. The price in taxpayer dollars and political capital is well worth the value in lives that are saved. I hope you’ll all join me in contacting your legislators here on Oahu in the weeks to come and help protect our island’s future from the wildfire threat.