Brush fires the cause of Molokai 911 outage yesterday

MOLOKAI—The Maui Fire Department had to deal with two separate brush fires on Molokai yesterday. The fires knocked out 911 service for the entire island for about an hour.

Department officials said the two fires in different locations were both reported at 1:34 p.m. The first fire was located along Maunaloa Highway, mile marker 3 and burned approximately 5,000 square feet.

The second fire was reported about a quarter of a mile past the first, heading in the airport direction, and burned an estimated 15 to 20 acres.

It was during these fires that Hawaiian Tel equipment was damaged and 911 services were lost. County fire fighters working alongside County public works and state highways got the fires contained at around 3:30 p.m.

Emergency 911 services were rerouted and reported back on line at around 3:20 p.m.