Community volunteers work together to "Beat the Burn" before the next dry season

Despite the recent rain and humidity, wildfire prevention should still be top of mind. There have been several major storm systems that affected our islands this year, and with a Super El Nino hurricane forecast for 2026, there may be more tropical cyclones on the way. It is common to think that due to all the rain from these storms, there would be less risk of fire. While the environment is moist now, in the long run, heavy rains and storms can make dry season worse. Downpours and flooding can change the way our land stores and releases water, and the excessive rain feeds fuels, such as invasive grass and plants, that will eventually dry out and could easily ignite, and rapidly spread wildfires.

On Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) "Beat the Burn" Wildfire Mitigation Workday alongside other Hawaiian Electric employees on Oahu. This event took place at the Leahi State Monument, also known as Diamond Head State Monument, in Honolulu, and is an ongoing project to reduce fire risk and restore the native plant gardens in the area. Even though I grew up in Hawaii, this was my first time inside the Diamond Head Crater and seeing the popular trail, so I was excited to learn and get to work.

"Diamond Head is 90 to 95 percent invasive and non-native species. When fire season is happening, they're a big danger in our environment," explained Olivia Storms, Park Ranger at Leahi State Monument, as she gave an overview of the project. "We're having volunteers out here to help us protect our spaces by removing these invasive species and then planting natives."

As our volunteer group gathered in a circle to introduce ourselves and go over the workday, Olivia shared that the end goal after clearing the invasive grasses is to fully expand the garden of "natives" or native plants along the trail to act as a fire break. Native plants can slow down the spread of wildfire because they hold a lot more water, even during dry season, which will help protect the trail, the park's visitors, and the surrounding community.

Leading our Hawaiian Electric volunteers was Samantha (Sami) Nakahira, an engineer in our system operations department, who coordinated the company's participation for this project. Before we disbursed from the circle, Sami shared that in her free time, she loves to malama aina, and with Hawaii's wildfire risk increasing by 400 percent in the last century, it's even more of a priority to find ways we can protect our communities and remove these invasive fuels that have grown significantly following the rain from Hurricane Lala and Hurricane Lowell passing our islands.

The goal is to create a fire break, but first, the area needed to be cleared. That was what we did for the day. Olivia noted that the section we were working in had been fully weed whacked right before Hurricane Lala passed in mid-August 2026. However, rain always triggers an expedited growth of invasive grass and other plants. A month later, it had grown past my knees. The section was back to being completely covered in grass that was beginning to dry out.

While weed whacking is fast, it is less effective in stopping the regrowth of these grasses, since they have seeds that easily spread. So, using pickaxes and sickles, around 20 of us adorned in bright green Hawaiian Electric volunteer T-shirts began pulling at the strong roots and digging into the dirt to remove these grasses along the Diamond Head trail. Some volunteers were also tasked with removing tree limbs using chain saws.

I teamed up with my fellow digital communications co-worker, Amy, and used a pickaxe to loosen the dirt and roots while she pulled the grass. These plants were stubborn, and I had to use every ounce of strength to get them out. Under the beaming hot sun, it was hard work, but the results were rewarding. Every time we cleared another small area, it motivated me to keep going. Plus, the visitors on their hikes were complementing our work and thanking us, which was nice encouragement!

Seeing the before and after of our work in this section of the trail was astonishing, and quite satisfying. There is still much more work to be done, but I'm glad that I was able to be a part of this project through Hawaiian Electric. Thank you to Sami for coordinating our company's participation in this event.

The DLNR will host these "Beat the Burn" workdays at Leahi State Monument every other Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., to continue this ongoing wildfire mitigation project. For information and to become involved, contact leahistateparks@gmail.com.

Mahalo to the Leahi State Monument team, and the many volunteers, for working to protect the park and the surrounding community through this important fire prevention work to remove invasive species and restore Leahi's native plant population!