Small blaze burns at wind farm

Firefighters are still looking into the cause of a small fire Friday night in the battery room of a new wind farm in Kahuku.

The Honolulu Fire Department said the fire was extinguished by the time firefighters arrived at the scene shortly after the 5:45 p.m. call.

"The smoke had gone down significantly after (power was cut) and we didn’t feel it was necessary to go in until it was safer this morning," he said yesterday.

But firefighters monitored the situation through yesterday morning, when hazardous materials personnel went in to survey the structure and deemed it safe.

Damage appeared to be minimal, Seelig said. Company officials are working with fire investigators to determine what caused the fire and provide a damage estimate.

First Wind dedicated the 30-megawatt facility, the island’s first large-scale wind farm, last month. The farm has a 15-megawatt battery energy storage system that smooths out drops in power output caused by changes in the wind.

Car crash involves officer’s vehicle

A police car was hit in a four-vehicle chain-reaction collision Friday in Waipahu.

The crash happened about 1 p.m. when one vehicle rear-ended another vehicle that was stopped in traffic near Lumiaina and Lumiauau streets. The second vehicle rear-ended the third vehicle, which hit the unmarked police car that was also stopped in traffic, police said.

The driver of the second vehicle complained about pain to the back but refused treatment at the scene. No one else was hurt, and no one was arrested.

Human remains found in Waialua

Human skeletal remains were discovered Friday near a public beachfront property in Waialua.

No foul play is expected, police said, noting that there are "several ancient burial sites in the area."

Police were called to the scene about 6 p.m. Friday.

The city Medical Examiner’s Office and state Department of Land and Natural Resources are also looking into the discovery.

Pair caught inside stolen vehicle

Police arrested a 42-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman yesterday after they were found inside a vehicle identified as stolen and in possession of items believed to have been taken in a car break-in on Friday.

The two face charges of unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle and detaining stolen property.

They were arrested in Waipahu at about 9:35 a.m.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Woman jailed  for her role in meth ring

The last defendant in a ring that shipped methamphetamine from the Philippines for sale on Kauai was sentenced to 11 years and four months in prison.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Tuesday that Zeny Mabasa Ordonez, 33, was the last of seven defendants to be sentenced. She and six others were charged in October 2007 with conspiracies to distribute and import methamphetamine.

Ordonez was the only one who went to trial. The others pleaded guilty.

The case was one of three meth-trafficking cases developed from wiretaps by the Drug Enforcement Administration and Kauai police in mid-2007.