POSTED: 01:33 p.m. HST, Nov 18, 2012
LAST UPDATED: 06:43 a.m. HST, Nov 19, 2012
A burning candle left unattended in a religious shrine caused a fire in a home near Hana Sunday morning, Maui County fire officials said.
Firefighters were called to a burning building near mile marker 28 in Nahiku on the Hana Highway at 9:11 a.m. and arrived to find smoke billowing from the eaves of a 1,000-square-foot home, a Fire Department spokesman said.
Roughly 15 percent of the building burned, and officials estimate damage at about $5,000.
The couple that lives in the house was not home when the blaze started. The Red Cross is assisting them because they have nowhere else to stay.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze just before 9:30 a.m.