Ewa Beach home fire’s cause investigated

Fire investigators will continue looking today for a cause of a Tuesday afternoon house fire in Ewa Beach that left a family of four homeless.

The fire destroyed a three-bedroom house at 91-434 Papipi Drive.

No one was injured, and no one was home at the time of the fire, fire Capt. Terry Seelig said.

The Red Cross is assisting a man, his two sons and his brother who lived at the home, Seelig said. One son is in his late teens; the other is in his 20s.

Houses on both sides sustained minor heat damage, but it was not significant, Seelig said.

Damage was estimated at $300,000 to the house and its contents, and a total of $20,000 to two neighboring houses, a vehicle at a neighboring home and a vehicle belonging to the family whose home burned down.

Firefighters responded to the 2:23 p.m. call, with the first company reaching the scene in five minutes.

When they arrived, the house was engulfed in flames, Seelig said.

The blaze was brought under control at 2:40 p.m. and extinguished at 3:26 p.m.

Arson suspected in shed and brush blazes

Police have opened an arson investigation into the causes of six fires started in the Wai­alua area early Tuesday morning near St. Michael’s Church.

Two fire engine companies and a tanker responded at 2:40 a.m. to a farm lot on Goodale Avenue, where a storage shed and a car were on fire.

As they finished extinguishing the shed fire an hour later, four more small fires broke out in the brush about 400 yards away.

Firefighters also fought a fifth brush fire that broke out as they extinguished the four brush fires.

There was no damage estimate available.

Fire investigators said it wasn’t windy enough for embers from the shed fire to ignite the five brush fires.

Alleged wheelchair assault leads to arrest

Police arrested a 61-year-old woman Monday morning for allegedly running over the foot of an emergency medical technician with her motorized wheelchair outside the Queen’s Medical Center.

Police said the woman, who has no local address, allegedly caused the EMT pain. The alleged assault occurred 8:30 a.m. Monday. Police arrested the woman at 9:50 a.m. She was released pending investigation.