Kawaihae Road Fire (HI)
True color
Fire (SWIR)
Infrared / SWIR (right): sees through smoke.
🟢 green = vegetation
🟤 red/brown = burned
🟠 orange = active fire
Imagery: Sentinel-2 (Copernicus). Drag to compare smoke vs. infrared.
Heat detections: NASA FIRMS (last 48h).
Quick facts
- Location
- 2 Miles SE from Kawaihae Village, HI
- Personnel
- 5
- Complexity
- Type 3 Incident
- Fuel
- Short Grass (1 foot)
- Behavior
- Minimal, Flanking, Creeping
- Jurisdiction
- Private land
Burning for nineteen days with an average daily growth of approximately 29 acres per day, the Kawaihae Road Fire has now consumed 560 acres on private land located two miles southeast of Kawaihae Village, Hawaii. Situated near Kamuela in Hawaii County, the incident has reached 100 percent containment, supported by a personnel of five operating under a Type 3 Incident structure and Type 3 IC management.
Current fire behavior is reported as minimal, flanking, and creeping, burning primarily through short grass measuring one foot in height. Satellites and field reports monitor the area following the start of the blaze on July 26, 2026, which has accumulated a total cost of $233,361.
This fire occurs within a broader regional context where the typical fire season runs from June to October. Nationally, the broader picture reflects 2,902,022 hectares burned so far in 2026, marking a figure that is 47 percent below the two-decade average.
In context
This wildfire burned in Hawaii for 30 days. In total it burned about 560 acres — around 2.3 km².
Close to the tropics, fires tend to follow the dry season and are often linked to land-clearing rather than a single summer peak.
The bigger picture in United States
Across United States, roughly 3,005,648 hectares have burned so far in 2026 — 45% below the two-decade average. Data from Copernicus GWIS.
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Community reports
Reports from people near the fire · unverified
Not official emergency information. In an emergency, contact fire services/authorities.