OLOWALU, Maui — An Olowalu wildfire that has consumed nearly 2,000 acres since Wednesday erupted into a "firestorm" last night, advancing on homes in the adjacent Launiupoko luxury subdivision.

The fire had already destroyed an Olowalu home and a tomato farm, and a flare-up whipped by 50-mph winds burned a cottage and garage in Launiupoko at 5 p.m. yesterday, said Maui County Deputy Fire Chief Neal Bal.

"It's a firestorm. It just blew up. The wind is just cutting loose," Bal said.

Police evacuated Launiupoko residents as the fire advanced, and the American Red Cross opened emergency shelters in Lahaina and Kahului for a second night to accommodate evacuees and visitors stranded by repeated closings of Honoapi'ilani Highway, the main link between the resort communities of West Maui and the rest of the island.

Police opened the highway about 9:45 last night and traffic was flowing smoothly, county spokeswoman Mahina Martin said at 10:30 p.m.

The highway was closed several times yesterday and Wednesday whenever flames jumped to the makai side of the two-lane road, or when a tree fell onto a traffic lane, or when thick smoke hampered visibility.

Vehicles were not allowed to leave West Maui using the highway that runs along the northern coastline of the island because the winding, narrow road cannot handle a heavy traffic load.

The fire also cut off land-line telephone service into and out of West Maui, police Lt. Wallace Tom said at 9 p.m., although people in that region could call each other. Police advised people to try their cell phones or to go to the Lahaina police station.

Before the fire spread into Launiupoko last night, county fire officials had reported it was 80 percent contained.

Joan McKelvey, who lives on Kai Hele Ku Street in Launiupoko, nervously monitored the fire's progress Wednesday and yesterday.

"We were watching the flames and they kept popping up in different areas," she said before the evacuation. "You can see the flames so easily at night, so it was a little more nerve-wracking. I don't see any flames now but I see a lot of smoke."

As of 10:30 last night firefighters had held the damage in Launiupoko to the cottage and garage, Martin said.

"There are reports of fires getting into backyards of homes and they're putting those out," she said. "(Firefighters) are heavily concentrated in that area." About 85 firefighters were at the fire last night, acting battalion chief Jeff Murray said.

The American Red Cross opened a shelter at the Lahaina Civic Center for the evacuees and others, with a similar site set up at the Maui High School gymnasium in Kahului, said Melissa Ross, the agency's Maui County director.

An estimated 200 people were at the Kahului shelter early last night, with more expected as flights arrived, Martin said.

Wednesday night, nearly 430 people spent the night at the Kahului shelter and 20 sought refuge at the Lahaina site, according to Ross.

"We were surprised to get that many people at the Maui High shelter. Fortunately, we have a great group of volunteers who are knowledgeable about setting up shelters," she said.

The Red Cross also is assisting the Naho'oikaika family, whose longtime home burned shortly after the fire started around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

BELONGINGS LOST

The nine people staying at the house, including a disabled 27-year-old man in a wheelchair, lost all of their belongings and nearly lost their lives, said relative Jodi Mashino. The family yesterday was scrambling to buy clothes and food, and spent the past two nights at the Kahana Sands condominium. They will be moving in today with Mashino and her family in Pukalani.

Witnesses working at Olowalu Nui Farms said the fire appeared to have been sparked by a bulldozer working on the hillside above Olowalu. Bal said authorities questioned the person who is believed to have accidentally started the blaze, but the deputy fire chief did not have further details.

The fire destroyed the office, main control center and storage building at Olowalu Nui Farms, which produces hydroponically grown tomatoes sold mostly to hotels and upscale restaurants. With the five-acre farm's facilities ruined and the electricity shut down, its 10,000 tomato plants were as good as dead, said owner Jon Applegate, who runs the business with wife Connie and son Haku and employs 10 workers.

He estimated the loss at up to $300,000.

"I'm sitting here trying to let it all sink in. The whole infrastructure is gone, so all the equipment necessary to make the tomatoes grow and to harvest and market them are gone. It's pretty devastating," Applegate said. "It's a heartbreaker."

He said he saw the fire start about a quarter-mile above the farm, which itself is located about a half-mile mauka of the highway. "Within 20 minutes, it had just taken the whole side of the mountain. It was out of control," Applegate said. "Today it looks like no-man's land."

FLIGHTS DELAYED

Sixty Maui County firefighters and 15 from the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife worked yesterday to maintain firebreaks protecting homes in Olowalu and Launiupoko. They were assisted by three helicopters and an assortment of heavy equipment provided by the county Public Works Department and private companies.

The fire burned eight utility poles along the highway, cutting power to 50 Maui Electric Co. customers. The poles were replaced and the electricity was restored by 8 a.m. yesterday, said MECO spokeswoman Kaui Awai-Dickson.

The impact of the blaze reached well beyond West Maui, as scores of fliers — including a US Airways pilot — were unable to get to Kahului Airport in time to catch their Wednesday flights.

State Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa said airlines were in a "catch-up mode" yesterday, trying to get departing passengers who missed their planes onto other flights.

A US Airways flight that was supposed to leave Kahului Airport at 10:59 p.m. Wednesday for Phoenix was rescheduled for 12:30 p.m. yesterday. Airline spokeswoman Valerie Wunder said the flight was a "special section" dispatched to fly people out who had missed earlier flights out due to the highway closure. Among those who got stuck in the traffic was the pilot who was scheduled to fly the Phoenix-bound plane.

Because it was a special flight, other US Airways flights to and from Maui were not affected by the fire, Wunder said.

American Red Cross volunteer Tom Worthington said the Maui High School shelter was empty at 7 p.m. Wednesday and they were preparing to close the facility when Honoapi'ilani Highway was again shut down.

"By midnight, 330 people had signed in and there was a line out the door," he said.

VOLUNTEERS PRAISED

The Maui Hotel Association and Maui Visitors Bureau provided dozens of neon-colored inflatable rafts for some visitors to sleep on, and the Red Cross supplied cots for others. Worthington said Pizza Hut made several deliveries through the night to provide food for those at the shelter.

"Everyone was in good spirits. There were no complaints," he said.

Worthington's wife, psychiatrist Dr. Leslie Gise, also volunteered and found that her medical training and privileges at Maui Memorial Medical Center came in handy when several visitors didn't have their medication. She was able to call the hospital to have medications delivered.

All the visitors who spoke with The Advertiser had high praise for the Red Cross accommodations and its volunteers.

Newlyweds Andrew and Rebecca Crawford from Birmingham, England, spent the first night of their Maui honeymoon sleeping in the high school gym after arriving on a United Airlines flight from San Francisco and being unable to reach the Hyatt Regency in Ka'anapali.

"It was a bit traumatic last night," said Rebecca Crawford, 24, because the couple were temporarily separated from their luggage, which contained gifts and other goods purchased during a shopping excursion in New York.

Yesterday morning, with their bags at their side, they enjoyed a bit of morning sun outside the gym.

"We're just hoping we'll still get our champagne reception at the hotel," said Andrew Crawford, 29. "After a cocktail, we won't care. It will be a cool story to tell."

The five-member Lumley family of Tocumwal, Australia, had gone on a half-day hiking tour Wednesday, and tried twice unsuccessfully to get back to their unit at the Ka'anapali Shores. Eventually their tour driver deposited them at the Kahului shelter without a toothbrush or change of clothes.

After the highway reopened yesterday morning, Murray Lumley, 53, wife Enid, 49, and daughters Jess, 18, Gemma, 20, and Alex, 16, all looking a little rumpled, finally boarded a bus bound for West Maui and were hoping to be able to pack their bags and turn right around to catch a flight to Honolulu, where they planned to stay four more nights.

RAFFLE TRIP WINNER

Rosemarie Aquilina, a district court judge from East Lansing, Mich., seemed more cheerful than most of the shelter survivors.

She had won a Maui trip in a raffle and had arrived at 6 p.m. Wednesday on a Northwest flight from Seattle, with plans to stay at the Sheraton Maui in Ka'anapali.

"I wanted to see Maui. So far I've seen a high school," she quipped.

A retired member of the Judge Advocate General Corps, or JAG, with the Michigan Army National Guard who saw duty during the first Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina, Aquilina said a one-night stay at a Red Cross shelter was a small inconvenience.

"Stuff happens. What are you going to do? It's nothing to be upset about," Aquilina said. "I'm in Hawai'i. I can't complain. With all the disasters, this is minor."

The Pacific Whale Foundation said it launched an impromptu shuttle service Wednesday evening to carry stranded visitors and residents between Ma'alaea and Lahaina.

Between 4 and 11 p.m., the foundation's three vessels carried 488 people.

"People were ecstatic. They were hugging us and thanking us," said PWF vessel programs manager Patrick Merrill, who volunteered his time to crew aboard one of the boats.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com and Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.