Wildfires Blaze In Hawaii

Nearly 5,000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes and the only road connecting Waikoloa to the rest of the Big Island was closed as a brush fire blazed out of control, officials said.

No injuries were reported and officials had not confirmed whether any structures had burned, Hawaii County Fire Capt. Felix Asia said. Nearby tourist hotels were not threatened.

The evacuation order affected 75 percent of the town's 6,500 residents, Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency acting administrator Lanny Nakano said. Officials turned a community center and elementary school into evacuation centers; a resort opened its ballroom to evacuees and another school offered dorm rooms.

Yuki Potter said she packed up her valuables and left Tuesday afternoon when the smoke got too bad.

"My eyes were stinging and it was really smoky, really black and really close to the village," she said from a friend's home in nearby Kona.

Linda Harlow told The Honolulu Advertiser that she had little warning before the order came.

"We back up to a natural area and it was burning right outside our home," she said. "People were trying to grab what they could. We had like five minutes."

By late Tuesday, the fire had charred more than 25,000 acres along the Kohala Coast on the west side of the island. Fire crews hoped to contain it Wednesday, Capt. Felix Asia said at a mobile command post.

The only road connecting the village to the rest of the island was closed and parents were asked to pick up their children from school because buses weren't allowed through the area. Schools outside the town were asked to keep students from Waikoloa until it was safe for them to return.

The fire did not threaten hotels in Waikoloa Resort, about six miles away.

Nearly 150 county and federal personnel were working through the night to battle the blaze, with the help of four helicopters and eight bulldozers, Nakano said.

The evacuation order came after the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a request from Gov. Linda Lingle for a disaster declaration in the area. The declaration will make federal funding available to pay part of the state's firefighting costs.

The blaze started Monday as a small brush fire, Battalion Chief Curtis Matsui said.

On the mainland, officials in Washington state said residents of about 75 homes who had evacuated Monday when a wildfire closed in would be allowed to return home Wednesday.

However, residents of 70 other homes were under notice that they might have to evacuate in the area near Lake Wenatchee in central Washington. The blaze had charred nearly 1,000 acres and was only 20 percent contained.

Large fires also were active Tuesday in Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Utah, the National Interagency Fire Center reported. So far this year, wildfires have charred 4.7 million acres, compared with 5.5 million at the same time last year, the center said.