Cause of Portlock house fire under investigation
Firefighters survey the remnants of a house fire at 578 Poipu Drive in Hawaii Kai on Tuesday, December 30, 2014 in east Honolulu. The fire was reported at 6:06am and was fully involved but under control by Honolulu Firefighters at 6:48am. Both occupants of the house escaped with no injuries, and the cause of the blaze is under investigation.
Firefighters survey the remnants of a house fire at 578 Poipu Drive in Hawaii Kai on Tuesday, December 30, 2014 in east Honolulu. The fire was reported at 6:06am and was fully involved but under control by Honolulu Firefighters at 6:48am. Both occupants of the house escaped with no injuries, and the cause of the blaze is under investigation.
Honolulu firefighters extinguished a two-alarm fire that severely damaged a single-family house in Portlock Tuesday morning and forced the closure of Poipu Drive between Pilaa Place and Anahola Street.
The fire at 578 Poipu Drive was reported at 6:07 a.m. The first of nine companies and 35 firefighters who began arriving six minutes later found heavy smoke and flames coming out of 75 percent of the home, said Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Kevin Mokulehua.
Two women in their 20s escaped from the burning house before firefighters arrived. No injuries were reported.
Firefighters had the blaze under control by 6:27 a.m. and extinguished by 6:48 a.m.
Just before the fire was ruled extinguished, the structural integrity of the house was so shaky that the incident commander ordered everyone out, Mokulehua said.
"It seems to be a total loss," he said.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
