City offices await OK to reopen
City officials will decide this morning whether to reopen the Kalihi-Kapalama Satellite City Hall and driver’s licensing office at City Square after the offices were closed Thursday because of nuisance odors from construction in the complex.
It was the second time in two weeks that odors prompted the closure of the satellite city hall on Dillingham Boulevard. While the driver’s licensing office reopened Thursday afternoon, it closed two hours later because a fire alarm prompted another evacuation. The satellite city hall closed for the day.
Firefighters were called at about 10:20 a.m. to a report of employees and customers complaining of a chemical odor and could not detect any noxious odors, said Honolulu fire Capt. Terry Seelig. He said firefighters suspect the source of the transient odor was exhaust fumes from a generator that construction workers were using outside the building.
Seelig said the workers were not part of the construction project between the satellite city hall and the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant that sent fumes into the ventilation system and prompted the closure of the satellite city hall on Feb. 16-17.
Two people were treated at the scene, and two others were taken by ambulance to a hospital in serious condition, an Emergency Medical Services supervisor said. Seven satellite city hall employees reported symptoms such as nausea, headache and itchy throat, said Chase Masuda, city acting administrator for satellite city halls.
Five employees of the licensing office went home feeling ill, said Dennis Kamimura, the city’s licensing administrator.
NEIGHBOR ISLANDS
Power failure hits Maui towns
About 20,000 Maui Electric Co. customers lost power Thursday when two generating units at the Maalaea Power Plant tripped offline at 1:37 p.m., the utility said.
The outage affected Pukalani, Makawao, Kula, Waiehu, Spreckelsville, Napili, Mahinahina and parts of Kahului, and also Haiku as far as Hana town.
About 80 percent of the customers had power restored by 3:45 p.m., the company said. Parts of Haiku, Makawao, Kula and Mahinahina remained without power.
When the generating units went offline, the sudden loss of power triggered a "load shed," which is a safety measure that protects the electrical system and prevents a longer, more widespread outage, the company said.
Maui Electric said Thursday it was bringing up additional generating capacity at the power plant so it could restore power to the remaining areas.
