Waikiki apartment fire displaces 4 residents

Four people were left homeless Tuesday morning after a high-rise fire destroyed their Waikiki apartment.

Hoku Dusenberry-Lee said he awoke to the smell of smoke in his ninth-floor apartment at 320 Liliu­oka­lani Ave. just before 6:30 a.m.

"The door was so hot that it was hard to open," said Dusenberry-Lee, who has lived in the apartment at the Monte Vista building for seven months.

"My whole living room was on fire," the former Kauai resident said.

The other bedroom in the two-bedroom unit was occupied by a couple and their infant son.

Other occupants also evacuated the 90-unit, 23-story building.

The blaze was reported to the Hono­lulu Fire Department at 6:44 a.m. and extinguished by 7 a.m., fire Capt. Terry Seelig said.

The fire caused an estimated $120,000 in damage to the building and $15,000 in loss of the apartment’s contents, Seelig said. Officials will resume their investigation into the cause of the fire today, he said.

Police closed Liliu­oka­lani Avenue for about an hour, until just after 8 a.m.

Seelig said the couple as well as two other people were treated for smoke inhalation.

Dusenberry-Lee said the fire may have started on a couch in the living room, but he does not know how. He said it destroyed everything he owned.

"I was supposed to work (Tuesday) morning, but I don’t have anything to wear," said Dusenberry-Lee, who is a barber. He escaped the blaze wearing only shorts.

Richard Gallegos, who lives on the sixth floor, said he awoke to the sounds of "cracking glass."

"There was stuff falling down on my lanai. … Everything seemed to come down on my lanai.

"There was dark smoke everywhere," said Gallegos, who was treated by paramedics at the scene for smoke inhalation.

Seelig said the building was built in 1977 and is not required to have an internal automated sprinkler system. Firefighters were able to control the blaze within nine minutes using an existing internal hose line system on the ninth floor, he said.

American Red Cross officials responded to assist the displaced occupants.