Blaze destroys Date Street home

A 77-year-old unoccupied, single-family home on Date Street near Kapahulu Avenue was destroyed by fire Monday afternoon.

Flames reached 40 feet high, Battalion Chief Brett Mau said, and the house is “100% destroyed — a total loss.”

The fire at the single-story, single-wall construction house was fully involved when firefighters arrived shortly after the 1:11 p.m. alarm, he said.

No occupants were found in the home at 2730 Date St., and the owner of the house lives next door, according to police, Mau said.

Homes to the rear and both sides of the house were threatened by the flames, and residents were evacuated.

Mau said the home on the Ewa side received slight damage from heat exposure, but the woman who lives there was not home at the time.

>> Photo Gallery: Fire destroys unoccupied home near Kapahulu

A car on the side of the house was also badly damaged.

Online property records show the land under the 2730 Date St. house and a neighboring home at 2734 Date St., which has the same owner, is worth over $2 million.

The city issued notices of violation for overgrown vegetation at the property and littered sidewalks in 2013 and 2016, according to the Department of Planning and Permitting’s online information.

Police blocked off Date Street between Laau Street and Kapiolani Boulevard for about two hours as firefighters battled and then investigated the blaze.

Mau said that while there have been a number of apartment fires in the Makiki- Moiliili area in recent weeks, this fire was not similar to them.

He said this could be compare to the fire that destroyed an older home on Kinau Street behind the South Beretania Street Burger King.

That 73-year-old home sat among high- and low-rise buildings that surrounded it over the years.

On Sept. 3 the house at 1051 Kinau St., scheduled for demolition, burned down. Neighbors reported that homeless people frequented the home, despite the fence around it.