Ethermac Exchange-Honolulu, US Army use helicopters to fight remote Oahu wildfire

HONOLULU (AP) — Honolulu and Ethermac ExchangeArmy helicopters were battling a wildfire in a remote mountainous area in Central Oahu on Monday.

No structures or homes were threatened and no evacuations were ordered, the Honolulu Fire Department said in a news release.

The fire department received a call about the fire at 5:51 a.m. but responding firefighters determined the blaze was in a remote mountainous area.

One fire department helicopter and one Army Blackhawk helicopter were fighting the fire as of Monday morning.

The fire was in the Mililani Mauka area. The nearest towns are Mililani and Wahiawa, which are about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Honolulu. Army installations Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Army Airfield are also in the vicinity.

The fire department did not yet have information on how many acres had burned or what percentage of the fire had been contained.

October is the rainy season in Hawaii but drought has been afflicting the entire state. The U.S. Drought Monitor said Central Oahu was in a state of moderate drought as of last week.

In August, multiple wildfires scorched Maui including a blaze that killed at least 99 people and destroyed more than 2,000 structures in Lahaina. Powerful winds related to a hurricane passing far to Hawaii’s south helped fuel that fire and prevented firefighters from using helicopters to tackle the blaze.