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‘Baywatch’
makes a cool
save at Maili
The show's creator orders air
By Tim Ryan
conditioners to cool some rooms
at the school for the last three
weeks of the school year
Star-Bulletin"Baywatch Hawaii," the hourlong lifeguard drama about saving lives in Hawaii's sometimes treacherous surf, will rescue dozens of Maili Elementary School students next week from Leeward Oahu's heat, humidity and flies.
The production company on Monday will have installed 10 air-conditioning units in 10 classrooms and a generator for power for the remainder of the school year, about three weeks.
Students at the school have not been told about the cool surprise.
During a surf session earlier this week in Waikiki, "Baywatch" producer and creator Greg Bonann overheard surfers talking about the heat problems in Maili Elementary's classrooms.
"Then Greg later heard someone call a radio station and say that temperatures in these bungalows can reach 100 degrees," said a "Baywatch" production official. "He decided to do something about it."
Bonann called the company that rents portable air-conditioning units for the the show's Haleiwa set -- Heide & Cooke Ltd., which agreed to rent several units that can cool a 400-square-foot area for half the usual price.
The "Baywatch Hawaii" production company will rent the 10 units for $190 a week each -- $1,900 a week -- or $5,700 until the end of the school year.
The production company also is renting a generator at $1,200 a month from Spectrum Engineering to power the cooling units because the school's electrical system cannot handle the additional load.
Spectrum also is supplying -- without charge -- the cables and wires to connect the air-conditioning units to the generators.
The equipment is insured under the "Baywatch" production company, a production official said. The school has arranged for the necessary permits to install the units and generator.
Maili Elementary School is getting about $3.2 million from the state Legislature to install air conditioning by the beginning of the school year in September.
Bonann is in Florida to receive a Gold Medallion and be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. He returns to Oahu on Tuesday.
