A close call

A firefighting helicopter carries water to a brush fire in Hawaii
A firefighting helicopter drops water on a brush fire in Hawaii

Driving to work yesterday, after two days off, I passed a couple of fire trucks parked at the foot of the hill. I didn’t think too much about it and carried on. I didn’t notice anything else unusual until I parked my car and got out. Something smelled a bit acrid, but even then, I didn’t think too much about it.

Once I got to the office I was immediately asked if I’d noticed anything. I shook my head. A hand pointed to the window. When I turned and looked, I saw the bank of the reservoir above our location was blackened, as were the hills beyond. That explained the acrid smell; another brush fire.

I found out later that the fire department had been called to a fire in the area on Sunday evening and had put out a small fire. The next day, Monday, a second fire started in the same area. While the fire was mostly out by yesterday morning, my arrival coincided with the Fire Department’s helicopter being called to gather water from the reservoir to douse a couple of lingering hot spots.

These photos show the helicopter heading out with water, dumping it on the fire, returning to gather more water, and then heading out again. One interesting footnote is that the two fuel trucks in the photos are about 100 yards from the foot of the reservoir bank!

The bottom photo is posted for Bushboy’s Last on the Card photo challenge. See more responses here.

A firefighting helicopter gathers water to fight a brush fire in Hawaii
A firefighting helicopter gathers water to fight a brush fire in Hawaii
A firefighting helicopter gathers water to fight a brush fire in Hawaii
A firefighting helicopter takes water to fight a brush fire in Hawaii

Rainbow over Gloomville

A rainbow over North Kohala, Hawaii
A rainbow over North Kohala, Hawaii

Where I live, in Hawi, it rains 50 or so inches a year. Just down the coast a few miles the rainfall drops to 20 inches a year. So it’s not unusual to be driving from sunny climes and encountering grey skies nearer home. My wife and I refer to this as returning to Gloomville.

These photos were taken on my way home from work. It had been a regular sunny drive up the coast until I got to the hill up towards Hawi. Then I noticed the wall of cloud ahead, illuminated by a bold, but short portion of rainbow. I pulled over and snapped the second photo.

Moments later the rainbow had extended itself to form a bright arc over the cloud covering Hawi. That’s the top photo, and as much of the rainbow as I could capture with my camera.

Ironically, for reasons that are as clear as the skies above Hawi, Weather Underground has a strong tendency to report the weather in Hawi as ‘dry conditions will continue.’ This includes when it can be seen to be teeming down outside the window. The theory in this household is that the weather station reporting this information is either in someone’s carport or it’s operated by someone from the Hawi Chamber of Commerce!

Cozy cats

A couple of cats rest in the afternoon shade

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Cozy.’ See more responses here.

I don’t have too many cozy photos, but cats seem to be cozy pretty much wherever they are. These two are from the place where I work. They seem to think that they run the joint, and in some ways they do. They look mellow in the photo, but it should be noted that I call the lower cat ‘Slasher.’ There’s a reason for that.

Tahitian prawns

A Tahitian prawn in a stream in Hawaii
A Tahitian prawn in a stream in Hawaii

Tahitian prawns were introduced to Hawaii back in the 1950s and are now found on all the islands thanks, in part, to the fact that their life cycle includes a stage in the open ocean. The prawns have become a popular food here though, as with most introduced species, there’s a downside. They prey on native species in the streams they inhabit.

One such stream runs through Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve & Garden, which is where I saw these Tahitian prawns. This stream is also one of several on the island where the prawns have been virtually wiped out on occasion. That’s because, while it’s legal to catch these prawns, it’s not legal to do so by dumping insecticide in the stream. Not only does this kill all the prawns, but it wipes out pretty much everything else that’s alive in there. And then there’s the small matter that these prawns are harvested for human consumption. Would you like insecticide with that?

Catching people in the act has proved difficult, but last year authorities did apprehend one man who had killed 6,200 prawns using this method. Earlier this year, he was fined $633,840 for his actions and the hope is that the big fine will discourage others. Mind you, the perpetrator looked like someone who would have trouble raising $840, let alone the other $633,000.