Posted on: Saturday, August 24, 2002

Three left homeless after McCully apartment blaze

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

Christopher Walsh comforts Willow Chang after firefighters extinguished a fire in a second-floor apartment in her building. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Fire gutted a McCully apartment yesterday morning, leaving three people homeless.

The fire was later traced to a faulty electrical outlet in the living room, said Capt. Richard Soo, Fire Department spokesman.

Nobody was home in the second-floor apartment at 1635 Young St. when, just before 8 a.m., neighbors saw fire erupting from the living room and kitchen area of the two-level unit, Soo said.

"They were 6-foot flames when I saw it," said Tony Catanzarite, who lives in an apartment facing the burning building. "The glass was already breaking out, and that's what woke me up."

The Red Cross was summoned to provide emergency relief to the displaced family, a 45-year-old woman and her sons, 25 and 21. Damage was estimated at $150,000 to the building and $35,000 to its contents.

Neighbors helped guide crews through the building to reach the apartment quickly, enabling firefighters to gain control of the blaze in 10 minutes.