One of the survivors of an early morning fire Friday that gutted a 40-year-old Pearl City home, killing an elderly woman, believes it may been touched off by burglars, according to a neighbor.
Neighbor Gary Ontai told reporters that one of the three occupants of the three-bedroom house, Ronald Kawakami, believed that burglars used a blowtorch to cut a lock to his shed at the back of the house at 1888 Hoomalolo St. to get at his radio-controlled model plane collection.
Kawakami’s mother — Betty Hagihara, 97 — died in the fire. The other occupant is Mikiko Murakami, one of the owners of the home.
Ontai related Kawakami’s comments as he helped Kawakami and Murakami. Ontai and other neighbors rushed to help the three occupants of the wooden house. Neighbors said they were awakened by "explosions" and loud popping sounds.
Kawakami told Ontai that his house was burglarized seven times in the past, Ontai said.
Kawakami’s model plane collection was kept in a covered lanai behind the garage. The shed also contained an assortment of tools, which fire officials said Kawakami used in his woodworking hobby.
Police and fire officials were investigating the cause and origin of the fire. Police issued a CrimeStoppers alert seeking witnesses to the fire.
Capt. Terry Seelig, Honolulu Fire Department spokesman, said the victim’s body was found in the middle bedroom along with one of six cats that lived in the home. The cause of death is pending the outcome of an autopsy by the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Seelig said he didn’t think that two 120-pound propane tanks at the home were the source of the explosions that witnesses reported hearing just after the alarm was triggered at 4:36 a.m.
Ontai, who lives a block away on Hoohai Street, said he heard "popping sounds" as he walked toward the fire. "There were noise and flames as high as 30 feet." said Ontai, who recorded the blaze on his cellphone.
Seelig said the home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived at the scene at 4:41 a.m.; they had the blaze under control 30 minutes later. Seelig says fire crews were unable to enter the home because of the amount of flames.
Neighbors said two men from across the street rushed over to help.
Officials said Kawakami and Murakami were treated for smoke inhalation.
The fire was extinguished at about 5:15 a.m. Damage was estimated at $360,000 to the building and $90,000 to its contents, including the woodworking tools, radio-controlled airplanes and other equipment.
Seelig said an adjacent house suffered $40,000 worth of damage from water and the intense heat generated by the fire.
Armando Garza, who lives across the street, credited another neighbor with saving Kawakami and his girlfriend. He said he had to climb a fence surrounding the yard to get to the already engulfed house because flames blocked the driveway.
"The flames just started shooting out, and the smoke coming out of that window was unbelievable," he said.
He credited neighbor Randy Yoshimura with saving the couple by reaching through a window and pulling the couple out of the house because they were standing inside, "literally in shock."
He said if Yoshimura had gotten there another 30 seconds to a minute later, "they would have been lost, guaranteed."
Neighbors said Hagihara was independent and lived by herself until she was hurt in a fall about two years ago, then moved in with her son.
Margie Garza, who lives across the street from Hagihara, said Kawakami and his mother were close, and before his mother moved in, he would pick her up every night for dinner and then drive her back home.
She was "a soft-spoken little Japanese lady," Garza said. "She was really independent. She was just really a nice lady."
Ray Yamaguchi, who lived a couple of houses down from Kawakami, said he used to be on the same senior citizens bowling league with Hagihara at Leeward Bowl. She would catch the bus to the bowling alley, but stopped going about five years ago because her legs were getting weak.
Star-Advertiser reporter Rob Shikina contributed to this report.
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