Wife and daughter of HPD lieutenant die in Kaimuki fire

A 33-year-old woman and her 9-month-old daughter died Wednesday morning in a fire that engulfed their Kaimuki home.

Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Scot Seguirant confirmed that the bodies of an adult and baby were found in the carport and the living room, respectively. Neighbors identified the deceased as Connie Moribe Wharton and daughter Sophia.

Honolulu Police Lt. Nathan Wharton, the husband and father of the victims, was not home at the time of the fire.

Neighbor Rich Chun, whose home is in front of the Whartons’ residence on what used to be a shared lot owned by Chun’s grandparents, said he was in his car and just about to pull out of his driveway when he heard an explosion shortly after 8 a.m.

“I ran through the house and saw that the fire was (at the Whartons’),” he said. “So I ran out and grabbed the hose and tried to put it out.”

Another neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said he also heard the explosion, which he compared to a heavy container striking the ground, followed by popping sounds that he took to be stored ammunition triggered by the fire.

Within minutes, the quiet street was filled with firefighters, police officers and startled neighbors. Personnel from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also at the scene.

Firefighters brought the fire under control by 8:25 a.m. and extinguished it by 9 a.m. A neighboring structure and two vehicles were also damaged by the fire.

A woman, who declined to give her name, said she was on her way to babysit the child when she noticed something wrong.

“When I was driving up, I saw the thick black smoke,” the woman said as she stood on the sidewalk near the charred home.

The woman, a friend of the baby’s grandmother, said the house was engulfed in flames when she arrived.

Chun, who was unaware of the deaths until he read about them online, described the Whartons as “just real good people,” with whom he and his family sometimes enjoyed cookouts.

He said the Whartons bought the home about six years ago and that Nathan Wharton had switched from his patrol beat in Waikiki to a position at the main HPD headquarters on Beretania Street around the time his daughter was born.

“I’m heartbroken for them,” Chun said.

In a statement issued Wednesday, HPD Acting Chief Jonathon Grems said, “We are supporting our officer during this heartbreaking tragedy. Few of us can begin to imagine the pain of his loss, and we will continue to support him in the days to come.”

A police chaplain and HPD Deputy Chief John McCarthy were among the HPD officers who responded to the fire.

Star-Advertiser staff writer Rosemarie Bernardo contributed to this report.