Blaze destroys Kane'ohe home
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Fire destroyed a house yesterday atop Kokokahi ridge, overlooking Kane'ohe Bay and Kane'ohe Bay Drive, leaving little of the two-story structure behind except charred timbers and a one-story cinderblock frame.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
The owner of the house was on the Mainland when the fire broke out. A caretaker spotted flames coming from the structure and met city firefighters at the site.
A fire at a Kokokahi Ridge home in Kane'ohe forced firefighters to travel a narrow, winding road, plus lay 1,200 feet of hose.
Firefighters stretched 1,200 feet of hose up a dirt driveway to reach the structure, uphill from the nearest fire hydrant.
The first alarm sounded at 4:26 p.m. The fire department sent four engines, two ladders and 16 firefighters to the scene.
The two-alarm blaze was visible to neighboring residents for some distance, because of the structure's elevation and the intensity of the fire.
"It was on the ridge and open, and as soon as we pulled out of the Kane'ohe station, we could see the flames and the smoke," said battalion chief Clinton Wong.
Fire trucks had to negotiate a narrow, winding road to reach the house, in addition to laying down the hundreds of feet of hose.
The house was fully engulfed in flames by the time firefighters arrived. In addition, several small brushfires had started around the structure.
Firefighters extinguished the brushfires and declared the fire under control by 4:53 p.m., and extinguished the fire at 6:32 p.m.
Three vehicles on the property were also consumed by the blaze.
The fire did an estimated $300,000 damage to the structure, and an estimated $60,000 damage to the house's contents, fire officials said.
No one appeared to be at the house at the time of the blaze, and there were no injuries.
The cause of the blaze is still under investigation. Capt. Richard Soo, fire department spokesman, said investigators will continue to examine the site this morning.
