KRCA Fire Protection Subcommittee

The major recent fires around Waimea and Waikoloa Village (the Mana fire at the beginning of August 2021, which forced the evacuation of Waikoloa Village, and the Pohakuloa fire of early August 2022) have reminded all of us that we live in fire-prone grasslands and that the Ranch needs to develop a fire prevention and mitigation program and prepare as much as possible its response to a major fire emergency. The KRCA Board set up a subcommittee tasked with investigating risks, prevention and mitigation measures, and emergency procedures for fires on the Kohala Ranch, and charged Bernard Sadoulet to lead this subcommittee. We recruited 12 KRCA owners, some having lived on the ranch for over 25 years and others in the process of getting their building plans approved, representing owners from the Heathers, the Meadows, and the Summit areas of the ranch, and including fire expertise (with one retired fire chief and several firefighting volunteers), insurance expertise, horse and cattle expertise, and other relevant experience. This subcommittee met for the first time on the 20th of April this year and has met every two weeks since then. We gave a first report to the KRCA Board of Directors on June 23, 2022, have initiated contacts with the Fire Department, Hawaii Civil Defense, the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, like-minded groups in our area (Kohala Estates, Kohala-by-the-Sea, Kohala Waterfront, etc.), and are in the process of submitting our application to become a Firewise community.

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Last edited 10/09/2022