KAHULUI, Maui — A wind-driven brushfire yesterday prompted the evacuation of Olowalu Village, burned a house and closed Honoapi'ilani Highway for much of the day, cutting off the West Maui resort area from the rest of the island.

Dozens of people missed their flights, workers at the Kahului Airport said. County firefighters worked into the night to try to contain the fire, which was moving north and threatening the Launiupoko subdivision.

Nearly 300 people were staying last night at a Red Cross shelter opened at the Maui High School gymnasium.

The stranded people are largely visitors who missed their flights home or who arrived only to find they could not get to their hotels, county spokeswoman Mahina Martin said.

The fire was reported at 10:34 a.m. at Olowalu, about halfway between Ma'alaea and Lahaina. Flames jumped to the makai side of Honoapi'ilani Highway, and police closed the road at 12:30 p.m., Martin said.

By 4 p.m., the fire had burned an estimated 800 acres. Officials evacuated all homes and some businesses in Olowalu Village, Martin said.

One home burned, displacing a family of 10. No injuries were reported, Martin said.

Wind gusts of more than 30 mph fanned the fire, which reached the 2,500-foot elevation and spread from the Teen Challenge facility to the Olowalu refuse site.

Police reopened the highway about 5 p.m., but closed it at 7:30 when the fire flared up, Martin said.

Laurie Causgrove of Portland, Ore., and her family did make their 10 p.m. flight home last night, after turning back once, then enduring three hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic from Lahaina.

They played hearts in their rental car and watched flames roar up the hillside.

"We were watching the fire in the car. It was quite amazing," Causgrove said.

Others weren't so lucky. Hawaiian Airlines porter Matthew Marcantonio said that at least 16 people missed the airline's 2:30 p.m. flight to Portland yesterday.

An agent at ATA, who would not give her name, said that at least 13 people missed ATA's 2:55 p.m. flight to Oakland, Calif., an unknown number of people missed the Los Angeles flight and another 13 people missed the 8:45 p.m. flight to Phoenix. The airline waited an extra 15 minutes for any late-comers for the Phoenix flight, she said.

Airport security guard Cal Shinyama said that in the afternoon, "it was noticeable the amount of people who weren't here. You could tell there were a whole lot of people missing."

Brushfires have closed that part of the highway before, including all-day closures in 2005 and 2001. The state Department of Transportation is developing plans for a West Maui bypass road mauka of the existing highway that would offer an alternate route in case of emergency.

The Red Cross opened a shelter at the Lahaina Civic Center in addition to Maui High School.

More than 50 firefighters were still working late last night. Some created a 40-foot-wide firebreak to protect Launiupoko as the fire moved north to within several hundred yards of the subdivision, Martin said.

Fire crews were also battling a fire in the Wahikuli area of Lahaina that came within 20 feet of homes.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.