Safety urged after elderly woman dies

Karen Chikamori’s death from an early morning house fire at the age of 77 Wednesday raised fire safety concerns among her elderly neighbors along Bachelot Street as investigators searched the wreckage of Chikamori’s Liliha home.

Albert Matsumoto, 85, said he has lived five houses down from Chikamori for 54 years, waving to her whenever she walked past.

On Wednesday, as the odor of Chikamori’s charred, two-story home hung over Bachelot Street, Matsumoto said the fire and Chikamori’s death worries him and his wife in their neighborhood of many elderly residents living in 1950s-era wooden homes.

"It’s a concern to everybody," Matsumoto said. "It should be mandatory for elderly people to have a fire alarm. That’s my concern."

Fire investigators plan to return this morning to the scene of Wednesday’s 4:44 a.m. fire to try to determine the cause, Honolulu Fire Capt. Terry Seelig said.

Investigators estimated that the fire caused $200,000 in damage, Seelig said.

Senior citizens are particularly at risk because they may be less mobile or less able to see and hear signs of a fire, Seelig said.

With the holidays approaching, Bruce Bottorff, associate state director of AARP Hawaii, suggested that children and grandchildren take the opportunity to visit their elderly loved ones and inspect electrical cords and replace smoke alarm batteries.

"The holidays are a good time for caregivers and family members to check in on elderly friends and neighbors who live alone," Bottorff said. "Once a fire strikes, it’s too late to plan."

New smoke alarms would represent practical, potentially lifesaving Christmas presents, Seelig said.

"It is a good gift to give," Seelig said. "Special planning helps because of the challenges that the elderly population faces with physical capabilities. Earlier notification doesn’t necessarily guarantee you more time. But the earlier you know there’s a fire or something else happening to threaten you, the sooner you can take steps to react to it."

Jack Chun, 69, has lived in the house on the mauka side of Chikamori’s home on Bachelot Street since he was 10.

He said Chikamori’s parents had owned the two houses on the makai side of his house and at one time ran the Chikamori Japanese-goods store on River Street in Chinatown.

After her parents died years ago, Chun said, Karen Chikamori lived alone but got help from a caregiver who lived in the adjacent home.

Chun said he was listening to the radio early Wednesday when he started hearing a strange crackling noise that to him resembled the sounds of a Chinese New Year celebration.

"It was just like firecrackers," he said. "Then I heard somebody yelling, ‘Anybody here? Anybody here? Anybody here?’"

Chun went outside to the sound of approaching fire engines and watched in shock as two firefighters carried a woman to the front of his house.

"I knew it was Karen," Chun said.

Seelig said firefighters found the victim in an upstairs, back bedroom that the fire had not reached.

The woman was taken in critical condition to a hospital, where she died, Seelig said.

Firefighters had the blaze under control at 4:58 a.m. and extinguished at 5:58 a.m., Seelig said.

The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s office had no preliminary cause of death.

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Star-Advertiser staff writer Craig Gima contributed to this report.