Aloha,
As many of you have experienced, the western half of our Schofield Barracks community has dealt with numerous unscheduled power outages over the last several weeks. I spoke about these outages in last night’s COVID community video update. You can watch the video at https://www.facebook.com/usaghawaii/videos/1148566292188548⚠. I talk about the power outages around the 4:15 mark.
I know these outages have been an unpredictable disruption to daily life, and know that we are working to resolve them. I know it may not be as fast as you would like, but the team is working.
You deserve to have reliable power in your home and your community, and I apologize for these inconveniences.
The garrison’s Directorate of Public Works has been investigating the outages and found that the main circuit breakers at one of our electrical substations have been tripping. These breakers are similar in concept to the ones you find in your home’s electrical panel. When a substation circuit breaker trips, a high-voltage electrician must be called out to check the electrical line and reset the system and the breakers in a safe and expeditious manner.
Our DPW high voltage electricians and electrical engineers have analyzed the system logs after each power outage; however the logs indicated no reason the breakers should be tripping. We initiated an emergency contract for a switchgear specialist to assess the problem and provide an estimate for repairs. We are in the process of awarding the emergency repair contract.
As we get a more definitive timeline on the emergency repair timeline, I will share that information with you.
If you have experienced power outage related damages, the Claims Office can assist with reimbursement. You can find information about filing a claim on our website at https://home.army.mil/hawaii/index.php/my-fort/services/legal. If you have questions, they can be reached at (808) 655-8607.
If you’re unsure about food safety, according to Food and Drug Administration:
- Your refrigerator will keep food cold for about 4 hours, if unopened
- Your freezer, if full, will be good for 48 hours; a half-full freezer is good for 24 hours — both if unopened
Anytime there is an unscheduled utility outage, please continue to report the outage to your maintenance line at (808) 457-4075. Scheduled utility outages are listed at https://home.army.mil/hawaii/index.php/my-fort/calendar/scheduled-power-outages-calendar.
We are working to get the situation addressed as quickly as possible, and, again, I apologize for the outages, and inconvenience. I appreciate your understanding as we work to prevent the problem from reoccurring in the future.
Col. Tom Barrett
Commander
U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii