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JAMM AQUINO
CTY - Firefighters on the scene at a housefire near California Avenue on Sunday, February 10, 2013 in Wahiawa. No one was injured in the blaze, and investigators are still piecing together what caused the fire. (Jamm Aquino/The Honolulu Star-Advertiser).
Honolulu fire investigators are trying to determine the cause and damage estimate from a fire in Wahiawa that destroyed a plantation-era home Sunday, a Fire Department spokesman said.
The fire broke out at about 9:45 a.m. in a wooden home on Koele Lane near California Avenue.
Firefighters arriving on scene four minutes later found the building fully engulfed in flames and called a second alarm, said Fire Capt. Gary Lum.
Oxygen tanks in the home exploded during the fire and initially firefighters battled the flames from the outside of the home because of the threat of the explosions, Lum said.
About 40 firefighters brought the flames until control by 10:02 a.m.
Two people lived in the home and firefighters were trying to locate them.
Neighbors said that an older man, who is on oxygen therapy, and his son lived in the single-story home, that was built during the plantation era.
