Updated at 4:45 p.m., Sunday, November 18, 2007
Downed pole causes outage, fire in Hawaii Kai
Advertiser Staff
A downed utility pole on Pakala Street today triggered a power outage in Hawai'i Kai that affected 1,085 Hawaiian Electric Co. customers.HECO spokeswoman Janet Crawford said power had been restored to all but three customers by 4:30 p.m.
The outage occurred at 2:28 p.m. Power was restored to all but about 200 customers within 45 minutes, said Crawford.
The three affected customers reside near the downed pole at 577 Pakala St. and could be without power for up to five hours, said Crawford.
Investigators are trying to determine what caused the pole to fall, she added.
Sparking from the downed pole's lines started a small brushfire behind Kaiser High School at 2:37 p.m. Firefighters from the Hawai'i Kai station reported the fire extinguished at 2:55 p.m.
The outage affected pockets of customers on Kalaniana'ole Highway and Lumahai Street and at Kaiser High School and Koko Head District Park, said Crawford.
