Neighbor Island briefs

Advertiser Staff and News Services

KAUA'I

Man arrested in Kaua'i arson

A 25-year-old man was arrested for arson yesterday on Kaua'i after a home in Kalaheo was gutted by fire.

Fire Battalion Chief Ernest Moniz said firefighters were called to a house at 4571 Opu Road about 8:45 a.m. A neighbor had noticed the flames and dialed 911.

Firefighters arrived within moments of receiving the call, but the house was nearly gutted by flames that seemed to have originated from several different places beneath the house.

Firefighters got the blaze under control within 15 minutes but were only able to save the outer shell. No one was home when the fire started, and no one was injured in the blaze. Authorities estimated the damage to the house and its contents at between $125,000 and $150,000.

Fire investigators arrived, found evidence to indicate the fire had been started intentionally and called the police.

Kaua'i police arrested the man shortly before noon.

BIG ISLAND

Big Isle tech tour scheduled

HILO, Hawai'i — Nearly three dozen officials from Taiwan, Japan and Korean will tour high-tech sites on the Big Island this week in a program organized by Jane Testa, Hawai'i County's director of research and development.

The group will arrive in Kona on Wednesday and be taken on a two-hour tour of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai'i to see its energy research and aquaculture projects. They will also tour the Hale Pohaku visitor center on Mauna Kea and the University of Hawai'i-Hilo technology park, where they will be briefed on Japan's Subaru telescope.

The visitors are from the central Taiwan government, the Hualien Province of Taiwan, Hawai-cho of Japan and Ok Chun of Korea.