Firefighters get 26 calls on holiday

Honolulu firefighters responded to 26 fire calls, eight of them believed to have been related to fireworks, between midnight and 9 p.m. yesterday.

The Fire Department normally receives eight fire calls per day, said HFD spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig.

"This is obviously greater than our average," Seelig said, "but we are a lot less busy than a lot of other July Fourths. It was wet this weekend, and it might have curtailed fires from starting. But I’d like to think it’s due to people being more cautious and using fireworks in a more responsible manner."

The department was already stretched thin by an early-evening flare-up of Saturday’s wildfire between Kalaeloa and Ko Olina. Seelig said 15 companies were needed to keep the revived fire, likely triggered by wind-blown embers, from spreading.

Stolen handgun gets teen arrested

A 15-year-old runaway was arrested with a stolen handgun and three rounds of ammunition Saturday night at Waikiki Beach, police said.

An 85-year-old man walked into the Police Department’s Waikiki substation and told officers that he had seen a boy with a gun near the Wall on Kalakaua Avenue, police said.

Officers saw a boy matching the description, patted him down and found ammunition and a handgun that had been reported stolen on Thursday, police said. The teenager was arrested on suspicion of gun, ammunition and stolen- property offenses at 6:46 p.m., police said.

Kapolei man arrested in abuse case

A 39-year-old Kapolei man was arrested on suspicion of abusing a household member after a 17-year-old girl told police that she was hit and choked by the man Saturday.

The man was arrested at 3 p.m. Saturday.

NEIGHBOR ISLANDS

Fire damages house in Hilo; vehicle saved

A fire in Hilo caused $150,000 in damage to a three-bedroom house, but an alert neighbor removed a vehicle from the property, saving it from damage, Big Island firefighters said yesterday.

The fire on Kukuau Street was reported at 12:47 p.m. Saturday, and firefighters arrived six minutes later.

They found the home 60 percent engulfed in flames, firefighters said.

Most of the damage occurred in the kitchen, living room, carport, laundry room and bathroom, with smoke and heat damage to the bedrooms, firefighters said.

No one was home when the fire broke out.

Firefighters had the blaze extinguished 24 minutes after the first call.

Body found on Kauai goes unidentified

A body was found Saturday morning in a remote area of Kealia, Kauai County announced yesterday.

Due to the decomposition of the body, no identification was made over the weekend. An autopsy is pending.

Although the case is classified as an unattended death, the Kauai Police Department said it is conducting a thorough investigation.

Kihei suspect arrested after fight kills man

A 37-year-old Kihei man was arrested after he allegedly killed another man during a fight Saturday night at the Small Beach area of Maui’s Makena Beach Park, Maui police said.

Wayne M. Daugaard, a house cleaner, was arrested after the unidentified victim died at the scene, police said.

The fight occurred at about 7:45 p.m., and police continued to investigate the circumstances yesterday. They classified the case as second-degree murder.