HAWAIʻI NATIONAL GUARD PROVIDING HELICOPTERS FOR FIRE SUPPRESSION ON HAWAIʻI FIRE

STATE OF HAWAI'I

KA MOKU ʻĀINA O HAWAIʻI

JOSH GREEN, M.D.

GOVERNOR

KE KIAʻĀINA

HAWAI'I DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

OFFICE OF THE ADJUTANT GENERAL

KA ʻOIHANA PILI KAUA

MAJOR GENERAL STEPHEN F. LOGAN

ADJUTANT GENERAL

KA ʻAKUKANA KENELALA

BRIGADIER GENERAL PHILLIP L. MALLORY

DEPUTY ADJUTANT GENERAL

KA HOPE ʻAKUKANA KENELALA

HAWAIʻI NATIONAL GUARD PROVIDING HELICOPTERS FOR FIRE SUPPRESSION ON HAWAIʻI FIRE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 10, 2025

#2025-009

HILO - The Hawai'i National Guard (HING) provided up to three helicopters to assist Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense with fire suppression on the Mana Road fire. A UH-60 and HH-60 Blackhawks and a CH-47 Chinook were used on the mission. Aerial fire suppression started on Friday, November 7. As of 2:00 p.m. today, HING crews have made a combined 13 drops totaling 6.7-thousand gallons of water.

Over the weekend and including today, there have been weather delays hampering the efforts of the helicopters. It was this rain that also helped to slow the fire down and decrease the number of helicopters in support.

The 25th Infantry Division and U.S. Army Hawai'i were also supporting efforts to combat the vegetation fire burning on the slopes of Mauna Kea. Pōhakuloa Training Area Fire and Emergency Services, the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, deployed one HH-60 rescue helicopter equipped with a water bucket to assist containment operations. The 25^th ID also provided fueling operations to take place at its Forward Air Refueling Point; this option helped to save time during the refueling process, allowing quicker response time to support fire suppression operations.

The HING aircrews were faster to respond than usual because Governor Josh Green, Commander in Chief of the Hawai'i National Guard, signed an emergency proclamation on July 18, 2025, authorizing the Guard to keep an aircrew ready to provide aerial firefighting capabilities to augment county- and state-level first responder elements. This initiative is called Operation Hoʻopauahi (to extinguish fire).

"Approximately 330 Hawai'i National Guard federal technicians, working without pay for the second pay period in a row, are still able to generate response capabilities that assist Hawai'i's counties to extinguish dangerous wildfires in the community," said Maj. Gen. Stephen Logan, Hawai'i adjutant general. "Your Hawaiʻi National Guard is 'Always Ready, Always There,' regardless of events in outside our state."

Operation Hoʻopauahi keeps a HING CH-47 Chinook helicopter crew postured to fly and immediately support any county in the state, which increases capacity to contain and extinguish a fire in its early stage.

The Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency and the Hawaiʻi National Guard are in direct communication with Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense and stand ready to provide additional support when and if needed.

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Media contact:
Maj. (Ret) Jeffrey D. Hickman
Director, Public Affairs
State of Hawai'i, Department of Defense
Office: 808-441-7000
Direct: 808-779-8008
[email protected]