Where's there's smoke....

 

Yep, you guessed it. There's fire!

We had a major brush fire on the island yesterday. It burned over 10,000 acres and is still burning today. Roads were closed and you couldn't get into or out of the Kihei area for several hours.

This photo is not of a full moon. Although I've been told my entire life you should never look directly into the sun, yesterday was an exception. This was taken at 3:00 in the afternoon here from 3600 feet above sea level. The fire was at sea level. At times the smoke was so thick that the sun was completely blocked and you couldn't see it. The whole island smelled like a great big BBQ. Satellites even photographed the smoke since it was so big and thick.

They closed the airport, evacuated people from their homes in Kihei and rerouted planes to other islands or returned them to their original starting point. My friend and photography partner was on a plane from Los Angeles to Maui and even though they were two thirds the way through their flight they were told to return to L.A. She lives in Kihei and thankfully her home did not go up in flames. It was almost midnight before I could get to her home to check on the condition and the worst that was there was black ash on everything outside. Today will be a cleaning day!

Thankfully no one has been hurt and as far as I know this morning no structures were lost. This was all from bush. The fire is still burning this morning and they think they will have it out by the end of the day. 

I have found myself wanting to be a little more prepared here in paradise lately. Island life is fantastic and I wouldn't want to be any where else but you do have to plan ahead for certain things that you never think of on the mainland.