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Outdoor electronic sign board was source of smoldering fire at Kapiolani Boulevard strip mall

Firefighters quickly extinguished a strip mall fire this morning on Kapiolani Boulevard that came from an electronic sign.

The Honolulu Fire Department received a call at 9 a.m. for a building fire at 1714 Kapiolani Boulevard and sent 11 units staffed with 43 personnel with the first unit arriving four minutes later to find light smoke emanating from the rear roof line.

Firefighters checked the roof using aerial and ground ladders, then employed thermal imaging cameras.

They could not detect any heat or elevated temperatures from the roof-mounted mechanical heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment or from the interior ceiling space.

Firefighters made entry and found no signs of smoke, fire or heat signature readings from their thermal imaging cameras.

They discovered the source of the smoke and a smoldering fire was an electronic sign board for one of the businesses in the parapet area.

The fire was brought under control and extinguished at 9:27 a.m.

Firefighters removed the sign and roofing materials to search for and extinguish any hidden fire and hot spots, HFD said.

HFD reminds the public that working smoke alarms saves lives, cutting the risk of dying in a home fire in half.

Fire sprinklers can also protect lives by keeping fires small, reducing heat, flames and smoke, which would allow people more time to escape, HFD said.

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