Updated at 11:43 a.m., Tuesday, May 7, 2002
Electrical glitch causes Kahala Mall outage
Advertiser Staff
Firefighters were called to Kahala Mall at about 10 a.m. today when someone smelled smoke near Jean's Warehouse at about the same time as a power failure left the shopping complex in darkness.The initial investigation indicated that the smoke came from an air-handler unit serving Jean's Warehouse and the Gymboree store, said fire department spokesman Capt. Richard Soo.
A one-hour outage affecting 900 homes on neighboring Wai‘alae Avenue started at 9:30 a.m. and may be related, said Fred Kobashikawa, Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman.
Ron Yoda, the mall general manager, said mall staffers were unable to locate the source of the smoke odor so called the fire department as a precaution. The power failed in part of the mall and then was shut down entirely to prevent damage to equipment, Yoda added.
Shoppers weren't evacuated but the mall briefly barred further entry to the theater wing of the center while firefighters investigated, he added.
