4 escape from fire at Waipahu house

Four people, alerted by a smoke alarm, escaped unharmed from a Waipahu house fire Thursday afternoon.

The Honolulu Fire Department said firefighters arrived at 1:56 p.m. at the two-story house and found smoke coming from the building at 94-087 Leowaena St. The fire in a ground-floor bedroom was extinguished at 2:26 p.m. The fire is under investigation.

Torch used in plumbing starts blaze

The Honolulu Fire Department determined that a Salt Lake high-rise fire Thursday afternoon was caused by someone doing plumbing work.

Firefighters responded to a 1:16 p.m. call at 5080 Likini St., a 14-story apartment building, where they found a smoldering fire inside a common wall between two penthouse units. It was extinguished by 1:51 p.m.

HFD investigators determined that the fire was accidentally caused by a torch used for plumbing work. Damaged was estimated at $3,000. No one was injured.

Flames char 30 acres on Valley Isle

A suspicious brush fire burned 30 acres of fallow sugar cane Wednesday night in Pulehu, Maui.

The cause is undetermined but considered suspicious because fire crews saw small fires in two locations that grew into one large fire front, the Maui Fire Department said in a news release.

The fire began at 8:53 p.m. on the south side of Pulehu Road, 2 miles east of the Hawaiian Cement batching plant. It was contained by 7 a.m. Thursday.