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Paddlers rescued off Portlock Point
Lifeguards and firefighters rescued two stand-up paddlers, one a pregnant woman, who were swept out to sea yesterday off Portlock.
Friends of the paddlers from Japan called for help at about 4:45 p.m. after the pair was an hour late returning, said Buck Giles, of the city Division of Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services.
Lifeguards on personal watercraft found them about 1.5 miles east of Portlock Point at about 5:20 p.m., and a fire rescue boat brought them to the boat ramp at Hawaii Kai Marina, Giles said. The pregnant woman showed signs of possible hypothermia.
Giles cautioned inexperienced paddlers to beware of winds and currents that can pull a paddler out to sea.
Moiliili house hit by armed robbers
Police are investigating an armed robbery Thursday night in a house in Moiliili.
Police said two men wearing ski masks with skeleton designs on them entered a house on Lauiki Street and took money and a cell phone at 9:06 p.m. Both men had .38-caliber revolvers.
Police sent out a bulletin on the suspects, who were dressed in black and both described as about 6 feet tall.
Teen’s mo-ped stolen at gas station
Police are looking for a 20-year-old armed man who stole a 15-year-old boy’s mo-ped at a Salt Lake Shopping Center service station Thursday night.
Police said the boy was filling the mo-ped’s gas tank at 5:15 p.m. when a man with a handgun confronted him and demanded the mo-ped. The man took the mo-ped and fled, police said. Police said the man has been identified but not found.
Man, 50, missing since Oct. 1
Police need help in finding a 50-year-old man who has been missing since the beginning of October.
William Smith Jr. was last seen in the Waikiki area Oct. 1. His vehicle was found abandoned in the parking lot of the Salt Lake Shopping Center several weeks later.
Honolulu CrimeStoppers describe Smith as being "emotionally distraught" and in need of medication.
He was described as 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing 150 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information about Smith is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 955-8300 or *CRIME by a cell phone.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Crews fight Big Isle blaze near houses
Big Island firefighters will continue working this weekend on a 130-acre brush fire that damaged property yesterday in Waimea.
The fire started at about 12:30 p.m. along Mamalahoa Highway near mile marker 61 in Waimea, said Hawaii County Fire Department Assistant Chief Darren Rosario.
The fire came close to the homes, leading police to call for a voluntarily evacuation of about 30 homes in the Kanehoa subdivision, Rosario said.
An evacuation shelter was opened at Waimea Community Center, but no one showed up.
Fire Battalion Chief Marshall Luke said the brush fire came close to some homes on acre lots. The blaze damaged a greenhouse, two storage sheds and a small farm structure.
Two helicopters, five engine companies, four tankers and five brush trucks worked on the fire, and a bulldozer built a firebreak during the day.
Ouli Street was closed because firetrucks blocked the roadway.
Firefighters had the blaze contained at 8 p.m., but it was still smoldering, Luke said.
Two brush trucks and two engines stayed overnight to address hot spots.
No homes were threatened last night, and no one was injured. The cause remained undetermined.
