PUKALANI, Hawaii (KHON2) -- The Maui Fire Department said in a social media post at 5:20 p.m. that forward progress of the Pukalani fire has been stopped and crews are making "good progress" in the steep terrain.
MFD also said they anticipate the evacuation orders will be lifted soon.
The Maui Police Department started going door-to-door to notify residents at 3:20 p.m. to evacuate homes on Akalani Loop and Kalialani Circle. There were no other evacuations, according to MEMA, but residents near Palalani Street were urged to stay vigilant and to avoid the area, if possible.
Evacuees were directed to the Hannibal Tavares Community Center in Pukalani.
Hawaiian Electric told KHON2 that 2,500 customers were affected by a non-PSPS outage in the Pukalani area.
A secondary outage, affecting 2,000 customers, was in effect in Makawao, Kula and Olinda/Piiholo area. The secondary outage was at the request of first responders as part of their response efforts. Power was restored to the area at 4:50 p.m. according to a Hawaiian Electric post on social media.
The fire was initially reported at 2:55 p.m. in a gulch off Palalani Street. MEMA partially activated the EOC at that time.
MFD is fighting the fire with three engines, one wildland engine, one tanker and two aircraft.
Crews were getting a handle on the fire, according to a 3:45 p.m. MFD post to social media but said that the fire was in a deep gulch with very steep access.
As of 5:41 p.m. however, the fire was reportedly 100% contained. Officials said the preliminary estimate of the size is two acres.
Crews will stay on scene for some time to mop up the fire and residents have been allowed to return home.