Civil defense siren sounds by mistake in Hawaii Kai

Maintenance crews will investigate Monday the cause of a malfunctioning Civil Defense siren that sounded erroneously two times Sunday in Hawaii Kai.

Honolulu Department of Emergency Management spokesman John Cummings said the siren at Kamiloiki Elementary School began making noise about 4 a.m. and about 9:30 a.m. He said police initially shut off the alarm through a remote console, but when it sounded again, the fire department had to manually disable the siren to silence it.

Cummings said the sirens are exposed to the elements and a malfunction occurs about once a month or every other month.

“It’s kind of common with them,” he said Sunday. “We may know by tomorrow afternoon or the next day what the cause was.”

He said if residents hear a siren and there is no emergency alert broadcast, then it is probably a false alarm and residents can call police to report it.