The big Banyan is just too big, green, and wet to be bothered by a bit of fire and smoke. And it’s seen some stuff. I was under it at the last Whaling Spree in 1966. Met Paladin (Richard Boone) and KK Kau’Manua (Kent Bowman). The Navy was nice enough to park a submarine just off shore-—closest thing we could find to a whale. Even back then I could see the folks were building a fire trap. Not a sprinkler system in the county. And the wind even helped the fire burn about 100 boats. How weird is that? Madame Pele had a snit fit. At least she didn’t blow Haleakala which is just up wind.
A lot of the banyan branches a black and burned looking,they may have to be cut. Hopefully the roots and trunk and some branches are okay. Hopefully sprinkler systems were installed at some point. I don’t think would have helped in these fires, though. Yeah, I used to swim at the beach there occasionally, always smelled like the sugar factory.