Hawaiian Electric monitoring brush fire on Waahila Ridge
Customers in Manoa area should prepare for possibility of extended outage
Release Date: 9/24/2020
HONOLULU, Sept. 24, 2020 – Hawaiian Electric is closely monitoring the path of a brush fire on Waahila Ridge above Manoa Valley. The fire was first reported near the East-West Center about 11:30 a.m.
Power to about 600 customers was initially turned off on circuits where poles and equipment were in the path of the fire. By 4 p.m., service was restored to all except about 100 customers.
As the fire moves past the University of Hawaii campus and toward Manoa Valley, there is a possibility that Hawaiian Electric would need to deenergize its Woodlawn substation, which would affect about 3,000 residential customers but not the UH campus.
As a precaution, customers in Manoa should prepare for the possibility of an extended outage.
Several utility poles above the company’s East-West substation have burned, and inspectors will need to determine the extent of damage once the fire is out.
Check Hawaiian Electric’s Twitter feed for updates.
