HAWAII BRIEFS
Warehouse blaze at industrial park
Advertiser Staff
Eight Honolulu Fire Department companies last night battled a warehouse fire at Campbell Industrial Park.
HFD spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig said the fire was at an Aloha International Moving Services warehouse on Kalaeloa Boulevard near Malakole Street.
The fire started about 9 p.m. and police closed the roadway near the fire scene at 9:05 p.m.
Building sprinklers helped suppress the fire, Seelig said. It was brought under control at 10:05 p.m. and extinguished at 10:30. The warehouse contained packing materials and did not have any customer belongings, he said.
THIS WINTER MAY BE WETTER HERE
Hawai'i is expected to receive above-average rainfall this winter while much of the Mainland will see a continued drought, forecasters said yesterday at a conference in Washington, D.C.
"La Niņa is here, with a weak-to-moderate event likely to persist through the winter," said Michael Halpert, head of forecast operations and acting deputy director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. "The big concern this winter may be the persistence of drought across large parts of the already parched South. And while December through February is likely to be another milder-than-average winter for much of the country, people should still expect some bouts of winter weather."
The predictions were made at the 2007-2008 Winter Fuels Outlook Conference.
La Niņa conditions bring colder water into the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Many parts of Hawai'i earlier this year experienced below-average rainfall brought in part by the opposite condition, El Niņo, in which warmer waters spread over the equatorial Pacific.
BULLDOZER KNOCKS OUT KOHALA POWER
About 4,800 customers in the North and South Kohala area, from Holualoa to Kealia, lost power yesterday when a bulldozer knocked over a utility pole near Honaunau Elementary School, Hawaii Electric Light Co. said.
The accident and power outage happened at 3:23 p.m.
By 4:04 p.m., HELCO crews performed switching and restored power to about 4,000 customers. Work to replace the pole was expected to be completed by 6 a.m. today.
DENISE BROWN SPEAKING TODAY
Denise Brown, sister of the late Nicole Brown Simpson, will speak today at a reception in Honolulu aimed at raising awareness about domestic violence.
The event will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Pacific Club. It is sponsored by the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline.
The organization is launching a new public awareness campaign to increase understanding about domestic violence in Hawai'i's middle- and upper-income families.
Brown will also speak tomorrow at 8 a.m. at a conference at The Queen's Conference Center at The Queen's Medical Center.
Nicole Brown and friend Ronald Goldman were murdered in 1994 at her Los Angeles home. Her husband, pro football Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson, was tried for the murders and acquitted.
MAYOR LEAVES FOR CHINA, S. KOREA
Mayor Mufi Hannemann yesterday left on a weeklong visit to sister cities in China and South Korea in an effort to strengthen ties and promote business and tourism.
In China, Hannemann is scheduled to give a speech before business and government leaders in Hong Kong before visiting Zhongshan to mark the 10th anniversary of its sister city relationship with Honolulu.
Hannemann plans to invite Zhongshan officials to visit Honolulu for an upcoming ceremony to dedicate the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park and a new statue of Sun.
The City Council has agreed to rename Chinatown Gateway Park for Sun, who received much of his early education on O'ahu and later founded a revolutionary group here. The bronze statue will depict Sun at age 13, when he arrived in Honolulu, and will be placed in the park near the corner of Hotel and Bethel streets.
