KAUNAKAKAI, Moloka'i — Firefighters continue to make progress in containing a Moloka'i wildfire that has been burning since Saturday, according to Maui County Civil Defense administrator Gen Iinuma.

The fire has blackened about 8,000 acres, and remains active in the Makakupa'ia section of the Moloka'i Forest Reserve, east of Kaunakakai, where about 400 acres have burned. Helicopters continued water drops in the forest yesterday and the fire is about 80 percent contained, Iinuma said.

The firefighting force remained at about 60 personnel from Maui County, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy.

Iinuma said county personnel worked yesterday to widen fire breaks around residential and business areas, and firefighters moved quickly Wednesday night to stamp out flare-ups in Kalama'ula near the plumeria farms west of Kaunakakai and at the 3,000-foot elevation of 'Onini Gulch to the east.

The fire started Saturday mauka of Kaunakakai; its cause has not been determined.