Son arrested after allegedly setting family’s Makaha home on fire

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
The Torres family was asleep in their five-bedroom Makaha home when Kenneth Torres woke up to the smell of smoke at about 1:30 a.m Friday. The family escaped safely, but their brindle pit bull, Bully, was unresponsive. According to Torres, the firefighters administered oxygen to the 13-year-old dog, rubbed his belly and resuscitated him. Kenneth’s 33-year-old son, who had moved into the family’s home from the mainland, was later arrested by HPD on suspicion of arson and other offenses.

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

The Torres family was asleep in their five-bedroom Makaha home when Kenneth Torres woke up to the smell of smoke at about 1:30 a.m Friday. The family escaped safely, but their brindle pit bull, Bully, was unresponsive. According to Torres, the firefighters administered oxygen to the 13-year-old dog, rubbed his belly and resuscitated him. Kenneth’s 33-year-old son, who had moved into the family’s home from the mainland, was later arrested by HPD on suspicion of arson and other offenses.

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

According to Kenneth Torres, the fire started in the bottom room

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM

The Torres family escaped safely, but their brindle pit bull, Bully, was unresponsive. According to Torres, the firefighters administered oxygen to the 13-year-old dog, rubbed his belly and resuscitated him.

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Honolulu police arrested a 33-year-old man after he allegedly set fire to a home in Makaha with his sleeping family members inside.

Twelve units with 35 firefighters responded to a 911 call of a structure fire at 84-1001 Lahaina St., Unit 1, at about 1:30 a.m. Friday. Upon arrival, crews saw heavy flames emanating from the ground floor of a two-story residence, the Honolulu Fire Department said.

Police said a man set the house on fire, then went to a neighbor’s home where he broke a window and “punched an elderly man in the face.”

The suspect fled the scene and attempted to break into a car on the next street, police added.

Cassandra Torres said she was sleeping when her husband, Kenneth Torres, alerted her of the fire. “Ken kept poking me, and then he jumped up and said, ‘Fire, fire!’”

The couple and their other son, Kawika, safely escaped the blaze.

Firefighters conducted a search on the second floor where they rescued the family’s brindle pit bull, Bully, who suffered severe smoke inhalation exposure. Firefighters administered oxygen to the dog.

Crews brought the blaze under control just before 2 a.m. and extinguished it at 2:40 a.m.

Volunteers with the American Red Cross responded to provide assistance to the Torres family. The Fire Department also contacted the Hawaiian Humane Society to assist the dog.

Several hours after the fire was extinguished, Bully lay on the ground next to a neighbor’s home across from the charred home as Fire Department investigators looked into the exact cause of the fire.

Cassandra Torres said the blaze started in a bedroom on the ground floor.

A damage estimate to the structure and its contents has yet to be determined.

Police arrested the suspect in the area of Hana and Orange streets in Makaha just before 1:40 a.m. on suspicion of first-degree arson, first-degree burglary and first-degree unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle.

He was also arrested for investigation of first-degree assault against a law enforcement officer. Police said the suspect was taken to a hospital where he assaulted an officer while in custody.

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Star-Advertiser photographer Cindy Ellen Russell contributed to this report.