25 lose their homes in Kaimuki blaze

Mele and Victor Fuimaono were signing a lease for an apartment Saturday when they got a call from their daughter telling them their current house was on fire.

"She called, crying, ‘The whole house was down,’" Mele Fuimaono said. "The only thing we own now is the clothes on our back."

The couple were among 20 people who lost their home when a two-alarm blaze destroyed a single-story house in Kaimuki at 1354 15th Ave., said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. David Jenkins.

Another five people were displaced when an neighboring home suffered damage.

In all, five families were affected — three in the destroyed home and two in the neighboring home. The American Red Cross was assisting.

One woman was burned in the fire and paramedics took her to the hospital, while two firefighters were treated at the scene — one for injuring a hand during a fall and the other for dehydration, Jenkins said.

Firefighters responding to a 2:15 p.m. call found flames and smoke engulfing half of the house. About 35 firefighters brought the blaze under control by 2:55 p.m.

Fifteenth Avenue was closed between Keanu Street and Noeau Street until just past 7 p.m.

Jenkins said the cause of the fire and a damage estimate were under investigation.

Fuimaono said she, her husband and her three children had been staying at the home until they could find their own place. She had been staying with her aunt, who is married with six children.

She said another family lived in the back of the single-story structure.

The Fuimaonos had moved to Hawaii from San Francisco and didn’t expect to meet such high demand in the rental market. They moved their belongings from a hotel to her aunt’s house so they wouldn’t have to keep moving their things and planned to move into their own place this week.

On Saturday afternoon, Mele Fuimaono was picking up the keys for the new apartment in Liliha when her daughter called.

"Not even 20 minutes (we were gone),"she said.

Another resident, Lahanitani Tongi, said his wife, who is Fuimaono’s aunt, suffered minor burns to her arm. She was hurt while trying to get her 1-year-old daughter out of part of the burning house, her children said.

The toddler was uninjured.

Tongi, 36, said he was laying tile in Kaimuki when his wife called about the fire.

He said he previously had concerns about the house and suspects an electrical malfunction caused the fire.

"I said to myself (before), ‘If this house burns, there’s no way to save this house,’" he said. "The wood is rotten."

According to property tax records, the 652-square-foot home was built in 1925.

Tongi’s 9-year-old son, Teau, said a neighbor ran inside the burning house and saved his two pet guinea pigs, Oreo and Sugar.

He said he thanked the neighbor and was happy his pets are alive.