A brushfire behind Kahuku Hospital yesterday scorched 5 to 10 acres but caused no property damage.

The last fire company involved in the 2 1/2-hour firefight left the scene about 7:45 p.m., according to fire department spokesman Capt. Frank Johnson.

Four engines, four water tankers and the HFD helicopter fought the fire.

SAILOR RESCUED BURNING MAN

The father of a Navy man whose ship was in Hawai'i this week said his son extinguished the flames after a man set himself on fire Wednesday at 1676 Ala Moana.

The man suffered burns over 100 percent of his body, officials said. He was taken to Straub Clinic & Hospital.

According to the father of sailor Romulo M. Ancho Jr., his son suffered a cut on one of his hands when he broke a glass pane to get a fire extinguisher. The cut required eight stitches, the senior Ancho told The Advertiser from California.

His son is aboard the USS Boxer, which is heading back to San Diego.

GRANT SUPPORTS MENTOR PROGRAM

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation has donated $5,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu for school mentoring programs.

The grant was awarded in recognition of an 'Iolani School project in which 26 students served as mentors to children at Ala Wai Elementary School.

Big Brothers Big Sisters has been in Honolulu since 1961. The organization teams young adults and adults with kids in an effort to curb youth violence and give children a positive mentor to look up to.

For more information on the nonprofit, call 521-3811 or visit www.bigshonolulu.org.

LANTERN-FLOATING AT MAGIC ISLAND

The ninth annual lantern- floating ceremony to remember lost loved ones is set for Memorial Day at Magic Island.

Some 900 wood lanterns will be released from canoes and from shore, then later retrieved and recycled.

The event is a Buddhist tradition in Japan, and is conducted to pay respects for ancestors and comfort the deceased. The lanterns carry prayers for loved ones and for victims of natural disasters, famines, disease and war.

The lanterns will be released into the water Monday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. The public can make prayer requests from 1 to 6 p.m. at Magic Island before the event.

Donations for prayer requests are accepted and will go to maintaining Ala Moana Beach Park. For more information, go to www.lantern floatinghawaii.com.

TWO SENTENCED IN DRUG CASE

Robert Kupahu and Keoki Astronomo were sentenced Tuesday by federal judge Helen Gillmor to serve prison terms of 175 and 100 months, respectively, for smuggling drugs into the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu.

The two were the last defendants of a prison drug- smuggling ring to be sentenced.

Kupahu, 31, was convicted of possessing prohibted items in prison and for being the organizer in the conspiracy to smuggle methamphetamine and marijuana into the detention center.

Astronomo, 36, a resident of Lahaina, Maui, was convicted for possession of a controlled substance.