Fast-moving fire destroys house

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Fire guts Lanikai home, 3 homeless

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A fast-moving fire destroyed a house in Lanikai Thursday afternoon. There was no one in the house at the time.

Neighbor Hillary Crowe tried to fight the growing flames with a garden hose, and was relieved to see one of the occupants, Greg Craft, 56, who had come home from the beach.

"We were screaming your names!" Crowe, 39, told Craft. "We were scared you were inside."

The fire began around 1:37 p.m. at 1261 Mokulua Drive, causing major damage to the house, attached carport and a pickup truck, fire Capt. Terry Seelig said. Damage was estimated at $360,000 to the structure and contents.

Neighbors and passers-by saw the older three-bedroom house quickly go up in flames.

Craft said he had stopped off at home, turned off the engine of his truck and gone to the beach on his bicycle.

The Honolulu Fire Department has not determined a cause, but neighbor Robert Stoner, 48, said he believes it started in the truck.

Stoner, a landscaper, was at a job up the hill when he smelled burning rubber and plastic and rushed down to the fire.

"It was the truck," he said. "The house started popping and exploding. Luckily nobody was inside it."

He and others stopped motorists from going by the blazing house and the falling power lines, which were still energized.

He captured much of the blaze on his camera phone.

"When you see it firsthand, you go like, ‘Whoa,’" he said. "I give the guys (firefighters) credit for preventing it from spreading."

Stoner said he comforted a young woman who was a guest at the house, and had lost everything.

Firefighters arrived within seven minutes of the alarm and had the fire under control by 2:13 p.m.

They were able to prevent damage to neighboring houses, but an 18-year-old woman suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to Castle Medical Center, according to city Emergency Medical Services.

Crowe moved to the neighboring house from California a week ago. She and her two daughters, 9 and 11, heard an explosion. She said she believes the fire started in the carport, where damage was heaviest.

"That’s where the smoke started," she said.

Meanwhile, Craft got a call that his house was on fire and rushed home.

"The house was totally in flames," he said.

"All I got left are these," Craft said, pointing to his swim trunks.

The Hawaii Red Cross was assisting the displaced men.

Craft, a musician and artist who creates decorative copper gates for a living, said he lost seven of his treasured guitars in the fire, along with his truck and everything else he owns. He rented the home with two friends, ages 65 and 18.

His buddy, Brian Smith, 40, who lives in the area and owns Boardriders Bar & Grill, plans to hold a fundraiser within the next two weeks for the victims.

"It’s a shame," Smith said. "Luckily, no one was in the house. They were all at the beach."

He added, "It looks like it went really quickly. I don’t think they would have made it out."

A property manager said the house’s owners are on the mainland, but have been informed and have received photos.

The house, built in 1956, had dry wood due to its age and exposure to the elements, Seelig said.

At the fire’s peak, flames were shooting 15 to 20 feet from the windows before the roof of the house began to sag and collapse, Seelig said.

"When I got here, the flames weren’t that big," said neighbor Nimai Louther. [See the interview video on YouTube.] "But it just got really big, out of control, really fast. It just started billowing out the windows, and before long, the roof collapsed. Then the Fire Department came here, one truck after another after another, and they put it out really efficiently."

Tina Gray, 60, who has lived in Lanikai for 30 years said: "You couldn’t even stand here (across the street), it was so hot. These houses go up like kindling."

Gray said it was lucky the fire didn’t occur during peak traffic hours or emergency vehicles may not have been able to get there in time to prevent the blaze from spreading. Lanikai has a one-way road in and a narrow one-way road out.

"We’re trapped back here," she said. "We’re sitting ducks back here. It scares me my house is going to catch fire or I’ll need an ambulance, and they can’t get back here."

She said the community has been working with the city’s Department of Transportation Services to come up with a solution. On weekends and holidays it takes an hour to get to downtown Kailua, just two miles away, she said.

She said on New Year’s Eve there was six hours of gridlock in the area.