A Christmas Day fire, possibly touched off by an unattended candle, annoyed several residents and left two homeless at a crowded rooming house in Makiki.

One tenant said residents tried to attack the fire with three different fire extinguishers from the property, but all malfunctioned, including one last inspected in 2006 and another with a sticker saying 1996.

Honolulu Fire Department Capt. James Todd said the two-story house at 1415 Pensacola St. has nine living units and only one was destroyed, displacing a couple. They were receiving assistance Saturday from the American Red Cross.

Firefighters responded to the fire, which started in a 300-square-foot unit, about 9:25 p.m., and extinguished the blaze about 20 minutes later, Todd said.

The cause was undetermined Saturday. The damage was estimated at $20,000 to the structure and $5,000 to the contents.

The house has five studios on the second floor, and the burned unit was one of the larger ones, tenants of the rooming house said.

One tenant, who asked to remain anonymous, said she smelled something burning and alerted her neighbors. The woman who lived in the destroyed unit was on the stairs outside and went into the house, saying she had a candle burning, the tenant said.

The woman opened her door and smoke came billowing out with flames in the center of the room.

The tenant who first smelled the smoke believed residents could have slowed the flames if they had a working fire extinguisher.

After firefighters put out the blaze, residents waited outside for several hours as firefighters searched the house to ensure nothing else was burning.

When residents were allowed back in at about 1 a.m., they found the electricity out, broken glass littering the hallway, and some doors broken open or torn off their hinges by firefighters checking locked rooms for fires.

The woman who first smelled the smoke said her carpet was soaked and she hardly slept because of the strong smoky odor. On Saturday afternoon, she still had no electricity or hot water and didn’t know when they would be restored.

“I had a rough night,” she said, but added that she was counting her blessings. “I’m alive.”

Another tenant, who also asked to remain anonymous, said she barely slept because she had to get up before 6 a.m. Saturday to go to work. She said a neighbor woke her up to help her escape.

“It was a rude awakening,” she said. “It was a good day up until the house was on fire.”