Cat blamed in Haiku house fire
A fire occurred at a two-story house in Haiku after a cat is believed to have knocked over an oil lamp in the bathroom.
Shortly before 6 p.m. Thursday, firefighters responded to the fire at Akahai Place.
A woman placed a lit oil lamp in the bathroom located on the ground floor. After she stepped out of the shower, she saw the lamp on the floor with flames surrounding it, according to Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto of the Maui Fire Department in a news release.
She at first tried to extinguish the fire with her towel, to no avail, then escaped.
Taomoto said a man was taking a shower on the second floor when he heard the fire alarm activated. When he saw the fire, he immediately grabbed a garden hose and sprayed water on the flames to keep it from spreading until firefighters arrived.
Fire crews observed smoke emanating from the ground floor of the home. They brought the fire under control at 6:16 p.m. and extinguished it within 10 minutes.
Taomoto said paramedics took the woman to Maui Memorial Medical Center for smoke inhalation.
The fire department ruled the fire was accidental as the residents’ cat is believed to have knocked the lamp over. Damage was contained to the bathroom and estimated at $1,000.
Taomoto reminded residents how important is it to have working fire alarms installed in homes. “If the fire alarm had not been working properly, or if there had been no fire alarms installed in the home, the man in the shower would not have been alerted early enough to investigate or escape from the fire,” he said in a news release.
18 responses to “Cat blamed in Haiku house fire”
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Is the cat ok?
catastrophe.
Catastrophe? You have cat to be kitten me right meow! It’s actually a purrfect, pawsitive ending. Those residents should be feline furtunate that those pawsome, tailented firefighters were there to save them.
made me laugh!
“A woman placed a lit oil lamp in the bathroom …”
It’s not the cats fault. Hope the cat is ok and sues for defamation.
“Gee, it’s not my fault! Dumb cat.
I always leave burning candles/lamps/incense around with no problems.”
A homeowners worse nightmare tenant.
If you have a cat or dog, forget all of the oil lamps and candles in the home. Use only plug in or battery operated LED lamps and candles
I use whale oil lamps.
I should add my cats like the smell.
I wonder if the cat being at fault has any effect on insurance.
Meow meow meow meow.
This lady sounds like my mom. She blames her cat for everything. The best one was when the cat “shut the door” and locked her out of the house.
allie: scary dat cat!
allie: Oh, and ahem, scary Haiku!
This sounds like attempted murder by the cat. Did he have an alibi lined up? Was he expected to inherit any money?
LOL, attempted murder by the cat…
I’m convinced all cats are secretly trying to kill their people.
The cat thought it was funny.