Hilo Information Update for March 9th, 2022

Lightning strike causes damage to electronic equipment at the Hawai'i Fire Department (HFD) - Central Fire Station in Downtown Hilo Tuesday afternoon (March 8th).

Published by: HIRSC - Hawai'i Island (Hōlualoa) Team

info@hiradioscannercommunity.com

The Hawai'i Fire Department (HFD) is continuing to complete repairs to damaged equipment following a major lightning strike that occurred during an unstable weather event on Tuesday afternoon (March 8th).

HFD Fire Chief Kazuo Todd reported at the monthly Hawai'i County Fire Commission meeting in Hilo Wednesday morning (March 9th) that the strike caused damage to electronic equipment such as computers at not only the Central Fire Station but also to HFD's Fire Communications Center (FCC), located behind the Central Fire Station.

Based on their assessment, a total of 4 computers were damaged due to the strike and one of the computers was linked to the HFD Fire Communication Center, causing issues with their CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) system. Hawai'i County Information Technology (IT) specialist was at the Central Fire Station and FCC was on-site assisting HFD personnel with repairs and replacing any damaged components.

Thankfully there were no reported injuries and also no effects on HFD Dispatcher's ability to process calls and dispatching units. Cost estimates were not immediately available of the damage caused by the lightning strike.