A man died Saturday in a three-alarm house fire in Makiki, but his adult daughter escaped from the burning home with the help of two neighbors.

More than 30 firefighters from 15 companies responded to the fire at 1531-D Kewalo St. shortly after 11 a.m. and brought the fire under control by 11:30 a.m., said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. James Todd.

He said the single-story wooden building had neighboring structures on three sides, and firefighters prevented the flames from spreading to the adjacent structures before extinguishing the blaze at about 12:30 p.m.

Firefighters found the man dead inside the collapsed house, and the man’s daughter, who is in her 20s, was treated for smoke inhalation and released at the scene, Todd said. No one else was hurt.

He said three people lived at the home and the Red Cross was helping the survivors.

Robert Mendes, who lives next door, said he and another man helped get the woman out of the burning home because she was trapped behind a wire screen covering the window.

He said a neighbor told him someone was inside and to grab a hammer to pry open the window because it was nailed shut. The other man was trying to open the window using only his hands.

Mendes grabbed a pickax and swung it at the wire screen, ripping it off the frame.

But the woman was afraid to jump out of the window several feet above ground and kept saying her father was inside, he said.

Mendes, choking in the thick smoke, caught the woman as she jumped out of the window and placed her on the ground.

Flames were already coming out of the windows of the room where the woman said her father was, and Mendes went to the front door, but fire had already reached the door.

Mendes said he was sad the man died and didn’t feel like a hero.

“Anybody would have done it,” he said. “I was just there. I’m glad that I could do what I did.”

Todd Higa, who lives in the same building as Mendes, said he noticed the fire after smelling something burning and feeling it get hotter inside his home.

He went outside and jumped on a cinder block wall to try to douse the flames with a hose while intermittently dousing himself to keep himself cool.

“It was really intense,” he said, adding that there were multiple explosions that sent out blasts of heat. He later learned he had sustained minor burns on his chest from the heat.

He said he didn’t know the man’s name, but knew him as his neighbor for years and was sad to hear he died.

“He was a good guy,” he said. “He was friendly.”

Gloria Lewis, who lives up the lane from the fire, said her daughter alerted her to the blaze after smelling smoke.

“It just happened so fast,” she said. “You could see really white smoke and you could hear crackling and glass breaking.”

She said the woman who lived in the house told her she was sleeping and woke up to a neighbor yelling “Fire.”

Todd said the cause remained under investigation. Firefighters estimated the blaze caused $420,000 in damage.