Updated at 11:18 p.m., Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Officials avert road closure at Waimea Bay
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
It was earlier announced that the highway would be closed to traffic in both directions beginning at midnight for an indefinite period due to hazardous conditions posed by a high-tension transmission line pole damaged by fire.
But Hawaiian Electric Co. crews determined tonight that there is no danger of power lines coming down, fire department spokesman Capt. Frank Johnson said.
Johnson said one of four wooden poles located on the ridge above Waimea Bay is burning on the inside and firefighters have been unable to fight it.
The pole is standing but it was feared interior damage would affect its stability.
A brushfire in Pupukea, which started at 2:10 p.m. but was quickly extinguished, caused the pole fire.
Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman Darren Pai said the incident did not cause an outage. Power was rerouted to other lines and no customers were expected to lose power, he said.
