Copper theft blacks out traffic cameras
Copper thieves struck over the weekend, severing fiber-optic cables in Kalihi, which blacked out 24 traffic cameras servicing Kalihi and Kaneohe.
The cameras were not damaged, but without the fiber-optic cables, the signal does not reach the Traffic Management Center and the public.
Knocked out of service were the cables servicing the airport viaduct eastbound and westbound, on Fort Weaver Road, and all 18 cameras in Kaneohe.
The city Department of Transportation Services estimates that it will take 30 days to replace and repair the damaged cables at a cost of more than $10,000. The department is also looking into the feasibility of a temporary fix to get the cameras back online sooner.
The conduits carrying the cables are under the Middle Street bridge at Kamehameha Highway and under H-1 freeway near Middle Street.
2 structures damaged by separate fires
City fire investigators were busy trying to determine the cause of two separate fires Wednesday morning in Hawaii Kai and Nanakuli.
No one was injured in either instance. Both structures were vacant.
The first alarm was turned in at 10:39 a.m. in Hawaii Kai. It took firefighters 16 minutes to bring the blaze on Kaumakani Street under control.
The fire was believed to have started in the kitchen of the three-bedroom house. Damage was estimated at $20,000.
Damage was estimated at $10,000 in the second fire in a portable building on Farrington Highway used as a storage facility.
The Nanakuli fire was reported at 10:55 a.m. and brought under control 10 minutes later. The damage was limited to the interior of the 15-by-15-foot storage building.
