After an early afternoon fire destroyed her Kalihi Valley home, Fausaga Mafi didn’t think about all her children’s Christmas gifts — now just ashes.

"I’m just so glad because my eight kids weren’t all home," said the 38-year-old mother. "We’re OK. Material things can be bought. We can replace these things. … Main thing, my family’s safe."

Mafi managed to escape uninjured with her 2-year-old daughter, while her other children — ages 3, 5, 6, 15, 16, 17 and 18 — were away at preschool or school.

The five-bedroom, two-story, single-family dwelling at 3065 Nihi St. was 75 percent damaged — with $400,000 in damage to the structure and $50,000 in damage to its contents, including a Pontiac minivan and an Isuzu sport utility vehicle, said fire Capt. Rick Karasaki. He said the house will likely have to be torn down and rebuilt.

Houses on both sides of the home were damaged by the heat.

The Fire Department received its first call at 12:43 p.m. Monday. About 35 firefighters responded, bringing the blaze under control in 26 minutes and extinguishing it by 1:37 p.m.

Karasaki said a cause was not known, but could relate to a few portable propane tanks on the property.

Mafi said she had just turned off a propane stove after cooking in a downstairs kitchen right above the garage. She went up to the bedroom to wrap some Christmas gifts, then heard an explosion and knew she had to get out quickly.

The fire spread so fast there was no time to think about saving anything, she said.

She managed to run down the stairs through the thick, black smoke with her frightened toddler.

"She was clinging to me," Mafi said.

When they got out, she called 911, then called her husband, Seluini, a 39-year-old police officer.

"I said, ‘Our house burned! Our house burned!’" Mafi said.

At first he thought she was joking, and responded, "Yeah, right."

Disbelief quickly turned to fear.

"Oh, my goodness," he said, at which point they were disconnected.

Seluini Mafi, who was off duty but helping his father with some work, said he couldn’t get in touch with his wife after that.

"First thing on my mind was, Are they all right?" Mafi said.

He raced home and found firetrucks along the street, and was grateful to find his family safe.

"It’s a loss but everybody’s all right," he said. "Main thing, nobody’s hurt or worse. The house we can deal with later."

The Red Cross offered assistance and shared a teddy bear with his 2-year-old daughter, who was smiling and hugging it tightly.

Next-door neighbor Mel Lloren, 31, was home alone when she smelled cooking and an odor of smoke, then heard neighbor children shout, "Mama, there’s a fire!"

"I heard a pop or something and saw black smoke," she said. "Huge fire."

She tried to call 911 but it was busy, she said.

"I was getting frantic," Lloren said. "On the third call they said they’re on their way, but the fire was getting bigger and bigger. I was shaking."

The burning house "was 10 feet away from us," and the wind was blowing the flames toward her house, she said.

"Oh, my God! Oh, my God!" she recalled exclaiming, and began to pray.

She tried to get out on the side of the house facing the Mafis’ house but could not.

Then she saw Fausaga Mafi, who calmly motioned her to come out, and Lloren managed to run from the other side of the house.

Their home’s vinyl siding curled because of the heat.

News of the fire quickly spread to family, friends and Seluini Mafi’s fellow officers at the Kapolei police station. Co-workers began coming over to check on the Mafis shortly after the fire was put out, offering their support.

"I feel for whoever’s house that is," said neighbor Nancy Nakamura, 75, who had to park her car at the bottom of the street upon returning home and climb the steep hill.

Paulette Taba, 29, had to walk past the home to pick up her kids from school, and said she felt sorry for the family, especially because it’s "right around Christmas."