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MAALAEA – Ash and smoke carried by strong, gusty winds blanketed Maalaea, burning people’s eyes while a brush fire roared across roughly 6,000 acres Saturday.

About a dozen Maalaea residents and hundreds of customers and workers at the Maalaea Harbor Shops area were evacuated, and shelters were opened in Wailuku and Lahaina, officials said. The fire and high winds also caused a widespread power outage for some 16,000 customers from Maalaea to Kapalua and parts of Kihei.

“My eyes are burning,” said John Gorman, curator at Maui Ocean Center. “I’m serious. I didn’t realize how dirty black I was until I went into the shower. Oh my god, I couldn’t believe it.”

First reported at 12:33 p.m., the fire began on the mauka side of the intersection of Honoapiilani and Kuihelani highways, and it rapidly moved toward the harbor shops, Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto said. The fire was a flare-up from an earlier blaze, and it appeared to spread alongside Honoapiilani Highway and up the mountainside for 6 miles and was at the base of the pali on the Lahaina side as of 7:45 p.m., he said.

As of that time, the fire remained out of control, but it was away from the highway in an inaccessible area at the top of the mountain and moving toward a Ukumehame subdivision, Taomoto said. Firefighters anticipated the fire would continue downhill, and Lahaina firefighters were standing by to stop it from reaching the housing subdivision.

After Honoapiilani Highway had been closed for hours, it reopened at 7:40 p.m. But, at 8:45 p.m., police reported the highway was closed between North Kihei Road and McGregor Point. There was no immediate word on how long the highway would remain closed.

Earlier the fire had jumped the highway in a few patches along the pali, as well as near the former Buzz’s Wharf restaurant, where about a dozen people were evacuated from nearby homes, Taomoto said.

No homes were damaged, but several Maalaea Bay Place residences were threatened by the fire, he said. Fire crews were positioned to protect those homes.

Six hikers were trapped on the Lahaina Pali Trail and were airlifted to safety by Maui Fire Department’s Air One and Air Two helicopters at 2 p.m., Taomoto said. No injuries were reported.

Gorman said that the fire evacuation hit during the aquarium’s busiest time, and he estimated 300 people were forced to leave the area around 2 p.m. General Manager Tapani Vuori made the call to close the center earlier because the path of the smoke from the fire was coming directly over the harbor shops, he said.

“He said, ‘Business is business, but this smoke is too much for anybody,'” Gorman said. “It was a lot of big, fine gritty dust. It’s not like sugar cane burns. This was more like black sand.”

Ash and debris covered about six outdoor pool exhibits at the aquarium, including the tide pool, turtle pool and hammerhead harbor, Gorman said. One-year-old turtles had to be quarantined due to the conditions.

“They’re turning one on July 4th, and we’re going to have a birthday celebration for all of them,” he said. “I guess they lit the fireworks too early.”

Gorman said that he and other workers spent an extra hour afterward cleaning the aquarium and switching on mechanical systems. There were issues with their mechanical systems, and workers would need to return early this morning to vacuum the pools and do other cleanup, he said.

“Instead of a relaxed Sunday, it’s going to be quickly get your wetsuit on and get to cleaning,” he said. “Quite a few of us who don’t work Sunday will be there.”

Guido Hauwaerts, supervisor for Cafe Del Vino, said he was one of the last to evacuate the harbor shops while preparing for dinner service. He said he had no idea about the fire until police knocked on his back door telling him to leave the area.

“They walked in and said, ‘Is that your car? You have to go,’ ” Hauwaerts said. “I looked at the patio, and it’s covered (in ash). The tablecloths are all black.

“I’m going to try to go (Sunday) and clean because the patio is all black.”

Hauwaerts said that he could feel the temperature of the flames and saw people covering their eyes in the parking lot.

Standing in the harbor shops parking lot, the ash and smoke made it difficult to breathe and see. Dozens of motorists pulled off the side of Honoapiilani Highway to watch the fire from afar, using their phones to take photos and video of the flames.

Flames came right up beside the highway, and police forced motorists to move away from the fire. A storage trailer structure could be seen ablaze, and at least a couple of cattle-hauling trucks were on fire.

Conditions at the fire scene were “very windy,” witnesses said, with wind blowing, sometimes in strong gusts, from the northwest to the southeast.

The Maui Golf & Sports Park and Union 76 gas station appeared to be closed Saturday afternoon, and yellow caution tape could be seen hung around the gas pumps.

Matt Ryan, resident manager at Maalaea Yacht Marina, said that at least three guests had called him about being stuck in Kahului due to road closures from the fire. He said that the condominium of 46 units was in jeopardy of being evacuated, but was left alone.

“We’ve had smoke and ash here all day,” he said. “It’s not hard to breathe. It’s just kind of irritating.”

About 50 Maui firefighters and a dozen state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife firefighters tended to the fire Saturday, including crews aboard two helicopters, Taomoto said. He added that heavy equipment and water tankers from Goodfellow Bros. and West Maui Land Co. assisted.

About 16,000 customers from Maalaea to Kapalua, as well as parts of Kihei, lost power at approximately 1:54 p.m. in connection to the fire, a MECO official said. A majority of the people had their power restored by 3:16 p.m., with the rest back online by 4:26 p.m.

The brush fire is in close proximity to MECO’s Maalaea Power Plant, but officials said the location is “safe and secure.” Officials attributed the outage to a combination of the brush fire and gusty winds that caused an electrical line to break.

Firefighters responding to the scene were from Wailuku, Kahului, Makawao, Kihei, Wailea and Lahaina, Taomoto said.

The fire was believed to have started from an electrical power line that was laying on the ground in an area that burned at 1:24 a.m. Saturday, he said. Fire crews had to wait for the power lines to be de-energized before they could work to put out the fire. It grew to about a half-acre before it was extinguished at 3:35 a.m.

When the fire flared up Saturday afternoon, firefighters had difficulty accessing the area because of a locked gate, and by the time they had access to the area, the fire was being fanned by 40-mph winds, Taomoto said.

“It just took off,” he said. “There was no way firefighters could catch it. The fire raced downwind and upslope towards the West Maui Mountains within minutes.”

* Chris Sugidono can be reached at csugidono@mauinews.com.

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