Even on vacation, duty calls for N.Y. firefighter
By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer
Who wouldn't want to hire a firefighter like Danny Conklin? A New Yorker and veteran of the heroic Sept. 11 rescue operation, who pitched in with yesterday's Kailua house fire while vacationing here?
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
On Sept. 11, while he only briefly sat at home, the 34-year old Conklin watched as the first World Trade Center tower collapsed into clouds of smoke and rubble. Soon enough, though, he had signed on with the now-famous legions of rescue workers on the scene — a war zone that Conklin says is forever seared into his memory.
Honolulu Fire Department investigator Glenn Solem, left, hands New York firefighter Danny Conklin a T-shirt with the HFD logo after Conklin helped put out a fire on Kalaheo Avenue in Kailua. Local firefighters, including investigator Terio Bumanglang, were pleased to meet Conklin, who worked at the World Trade Center's Ground Zero.
And about 4:30 yesterday morning, from the bedroom of the rented Kailua beach house he shared with his vacationing extended family, Conklin saw flames leaping from the top level of a home a short distance toward Lanikai. He heard the screams of two young women enduring a terror that is now forever seared into their memories.
He grabbed his 28-year-old nephew, volunteer firefighter Matt Conklin, and raced down Kalaheo Avenue, where he encountered the Honolulu Fire Department, out in force to battle the blaze that gutted part of a rental complex. Ray Payumo, a Kailua postal carrier who lived in the unburned section of the structure, was among the first engaged in a hopeless cause, using a garden hose to keep the fire in check.
But the upper level of the home, at 210 S. Kalaheo Ave., ignited like a tinderbox. The residents — 26-year-old Vanessa Hollinger and her sister, Alicia Hollinger, 18 — had run to the front yard.
"I was sleeping. I don't know why I woke up," said Vanessa Hollinger, who had been in the top bedroom. "I saw my window curtains burning. They were right by the bedroom door, my only way out, so I just ran out."
She fetched Alicia, who then tried to run upstairs to attempt to beat out the flames. It was clearly too late. The sisters bolted outdoors, with their golden retriever, Duke.
Payumo could see the mounting danger, and he urged them to head toward the road. There they watched everything they owned go up in smoke. An electrical cause is suspected; damage is set at $80,000 to the structure and $20,000 to the contents.
When Conklin arrived, he volunteered his services, grabbed a tool from the engine and started breaking windows to vent the lower level. Then he went in.
"I started searching for anyone inside," he said. "Even when they say everyone is out, in my experience sometimes there is someone there."
Conklin, a 10-year veteran assigned to the Castle-on-the-Hill fire station in Brooklyn, lives in the New York City borough of Queens with his wife, Lisa, who grew up in Hawai'i, and their 2-year-old daughter, Alanna Lokelani. The extended clan had gathered for a family reunion at one of Kalaheo's many vacation rentals.
The scene this morning was a curious mingling of grief and mutual admiration. The Hollingers held back their tears, not always successfully, as the Red Cross took down information to help in their relief, and friends brought offers of accommodation and bags of clothing.
Honolulu fire officials, meanwhile, heaped praise on Conklin. "We think he deserves some kudos," said department spokesman Capt. Richard Soo. "A visiting firefighter from New York comes here and does his job."
Conklin and his nephew, who also had worked in the World Trade Center rescue efforts, had left for a previously scheduled TV interview about their Ground Zero experience and returned to the fire scene for more interviews.
"You OK?" Conklin said, turning to Alicia Hollinger, who nodded. "It's more important that you're OK, as much as it hurts. You have your health, that's what's important. The rest you can rebuild."
Then there was time for bonding in the brotherhood of firefighters.
"Are you that New York fireman?" asked fire investigator Brett Lomont.
"Yes," said Conklin, adding, "Hey! You guys were great!"
"Oooh, that accent!" Lomont said, shaking hands with his Big Apple colleague.
Leonardi, for his part, would love to add him to Honolulu's force, with a little remedial pidgin instruction.
"His quick action helped our guys," he said. "He's a real nice guy. ... I told him, 'We'd be happy to have you work here, but you'll have to learn to speak.'"
