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The Honolulu Fire Department is investigating three suspicious fires that occurred in the same area of Waiawa within an hour Thursday morning.
Between 7:20 a.m. and 7:35 a.m., firefighters responded to two separate small fires, the first along Farrington Highway near Home Depot and the second inside a rubbish can at a bus stop near the Benjamin “Ben” Saguibo Laborer’s Apprenticeship & Training Center.
Firefighters quickly extinguished both fires.
At 7:54 a.m., 11 units and 35 firefighters responded to the third blaze: a two-alarm fire at a vacant property at 96-130 Farrington Highway.
The fire occurred at a 1,000-square-foot, open-air warehouse with a corrugated metal roof. About half of the warehouse was engulfed in flames. A small hollow-tile structure in the warehouse also caught fire, according to Honolulu Fire Battalion Chief Paul Fukuda.
Firefighters brought the fire under control at 8:08 a.m. and extinguished it at 8:25 a.m.
No injuries were reported.
Fukuda described all three fires as “suspicious.”
Honolulu fire spokesman Capt. David Jenkins said investigators are looking into whether there’s a link among the three fires.
The cause of the third fire is under investigation, and a damage estimate has yet to be determined.
Man, 34, charged with electronically luring girl
A 34-year-old Honolulu man was indicted Thursday on a charge of luring a girl to a meeting to have sex with her. Jacob Landon Powers was charged with first-degree electronic enticement of a child.
“Luring a minor to have sex is a horrible crime,” said state Attorney General Douglas Chin. “Not only is the act itself criminal, it can damage the child for the rest of that child’s life.”
The Hawaii Internet Crimes Against Children task force conducted the investigation. According to the charges, Powers used his mobile phone to communicate with someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl and arranged to meet her for sex.
Powers then arrived at the time and place they had agreed upon, and he was arrested while he was at the meeting, the attorney general said. Conviction on the charge is punishable by 10 years in prison without the possibility of probation, according to the Attorney General’s Office. Bail has been set at $11,000.
Gas leak causes traffic closure on Sierra Drive
A synthetic natural gas leak shut down Sierra Drive between Waialae Avenue and Center Street for about an hour Thursday afternoon. Honolulu police reopened the road at 2:51 p.m. Thursday. No other details were available regarding the leak as police investigated.
Schofield collision injures man, 25
A 25-year-old man was in critical condition after a two-vehicle collision at Lyman and Kunia roads. The crash took place at about 6:28 a.m. Thursday. A tow truck driver, taken to a hospital, suffered injuries to both legs after being struck by another vehicle,
according to Honolulu Emergency Medical Services.
Man, 29, charged with Ala Moana-area robbery
A 29-year-old man has been charged with robbing a man in the Ala Moana area.
Ressurection C. Filifili, of no local address, was charged with second-degree robbery. He is being held in lieu of $30,000 bail. At approximately 5 p.m. Tuesday, police said, Filifili confronted a 35-year-old man and demanded property. When the victim refused, a struggle took place between the two men. Police said Filifili assaulted the victim before he fled.
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