(BIVN) – A generator fire at the Panaʻewa substation at Shipman Industrial Park on Monday evening resulted in a power outage for parts of Hilo and Puna .
The Hawaiian Electric company said that atm one point, over 1,414 customers were without power from Hilo Muni Golf Course to Keaʻau Town area due to the fire.
The Hawaiʻi Fire Department detailed the challenges in fighting the generator fire, because they were “initially unable to initiate fire suppression operations due to possible high voltage to structure.”
The fire department described the structure as a 40 foot “container on rolling chassis with 20 ft. of additional sound suppression add ons.” They noted the container was “housing electric generator and power transformers with a 1000 gallon diesel tank.”
Eventually the power was disconnected and firefighters began to battle the blaze. “Fire suppression efforts hindered due to large amount of flammable liquids exiting structure and hindering access to direct fire suppression,” the fire department noted.
According to a social media message from Hawaiian Electric, power was restored to all remaining customers by 10:10 p.m.
