NANAKULI — The mountain-side next to Farrington Highway near Nanakuli and the Ko Olina Resort resembled a combat zone yesterday as flames burned out of control and thick smoke blanketed the landscape while low-flying military helicopters rumbled overhead.

"Looks like war, or something like that," said Palani Rombawa, 18, as he stood beside his home off Nanakuli Avenue and tried to comprehend the confusion all about him.

Cheryl Rivera, 36, one of his neighbors, said she spent the night with a blanket over her head and the windows bolted shut to keep out the smoke.

The brushfire has been threatening homes from Kahe Point to Palehua Ridge since it started Sunday. Officials say it has consumed about 2,800 acres of the Wai'anae Coast and are calling it possibly the worst yet in a record year for brushfires.

"This year we've had 700 or so brushfires, but as far as large, significant fires, this is the one," said Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Emmit Kane.

Kane said that firefighters worked throughout Monday night to secure homes within the affected area and that none had been damaged as of last night.

Nine helicopters made nonstop water drops to support firefighters on the ground.

HFD's Air One, a similar helicopter contracted by the state and seven military aircraft — big Black Hawk, Chinook and Sea Stallion helicopters — dumped tens of thousands of gallons of water on the flames that engulfed the rugged terrain around Nanakuli and across from Ko Olina.

"The sheer magnitude has been the biggest problem," Kane said. "This thing is running from as far as Nanakuli around Kahe Point, up and over the mountain up as high as Palehua and as low as Farrington Highway."

Farrington Highway's westbound lanes were closed near the Ko Olina on-ramp yesterday morning because of heavy smoke and fire burning up to the edge of the road. The Kolekole Pass was also opened to the public by the military for the second day in a row so drivers could get to the Wai'anae Coast.

Pat Costales, O'ahu branch manager for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' Division of Forestry and Wildlife, said officials were concerned that the fire would hurt indigenous plants and the endangered Hawaiian bat in the Honouliuli Nature Preserve.

However, he said, only a small section of the reserve had been harmed.

"It could have been worse," Costales said.

Civil Defense plans and operations officer John Cummings said the military helicopters made a difference because they each can dump up to 1,000 gallons of water.

"The amount of military assistance in this is unprecedented," Cummings said. "I've never seen anything like it."

Kane said it took about 40 percent of the Fire Department's resources and some seven dozen city and federal firefighters to contain the blaze by 4 p.m. He would not speculate on when the fire might be brought under control.

Edward Teixeira, vice director of the state Civil Defense, expressed fear that high winds and embers could ignite a raging inferno again.

An HFD Command Center was set up at Kamokila Park near Honokai Hale, and as the helicopters roared overhead, firefighters spent the day putting out spot flareups that broke out along the foothills.

Both Gov. Linda Lingle and Mayor Mufi Hannemann toured the scorched area by air yesterday afternoon.

After the aerial inspections, they agreed that the extreme number of Leeward fires this year highlighted the importance of completing the bypass road project along the Wai'anae Coast.

The coast has one highway in and out. Frequent road closures stall traffic, sometimes for hours, and seriously inconvenience residents.

Lingle said the high cost of fighting the brushfire could be eased by a grant approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Teixeira said the grant would reimburse at least 75 percent of costs of the Nanakuli brushfire.

He said the grant period started when the fire began Sunday and it will end when the HFD incident commander declares the fire officially controlled.

"The beauty of it is that you can let go and spend and obligate more resources to prevent a disaster," he said.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.