The family dog did not survive an Ewa Beach house fire this afternoon, but a man and a young boy escaped the billowy blaze without injury, a Honolulu Fire Department spokesman said. 

Capt. Terry Seelig said the fire, which appears to have started in the kitchen of a duplex unit in the Waterfront at Puuloa community, initially prompted three alarm calls because firefighters could see an obvious cloud of heavy smoke as they pulled away from the Ewa Beach station.

“These houses — they’re not close together but they are duplexes, and they are older, so with the amount of smoke and knowing this area he requested additional services,” Seelig said of the captain of the company. “(The third alarm) was a good call on his part, but not needed and returned.”

The exact cause of the fire is being investigated.

Seelig said the fire started on Kela Place around 2:34 p.m. when the man and boy were home but the third occupant, a woman, was at work. 

Firefighters arrived at 2:43 p.m., had the blaze under control two minutes later, and extinguished it around 3:30 p.m., he said. 

Damage to the structure and contents of the affected unit are estimated at $350,000. The adjacent unit suffered only minor damages.

The Red Cross was called to the scene to assist the displaced occupants.