Keau Curry also heard flames popping in a nearby bedroom, and that sent him running through the house, alerting other family members.

"I got my cousin," he said, indicating Chaz Bautista, huddling beneath a carport across from their charred six-bedroom at 625-A 12th Ave. "He ran down the hall, and we got out auntie and papa."

"Papa" is 71-year-old Carl Hanohano, who is wheelchair bound, and his daughter, Carlette Luka, is "auntie." Usually six people live in the home, a duplex converted to a sprawling single-family residence, but the other relatives, a woman and baby, were staying elsewhere last night, Luka said.

The family declined Red Cross offers of hotel accommodation, said Capt. Kenison Tejada, fire department spokesman, but will need the food and clothing donations. Damage estimates were not available while investigation continued this morning, but not much seems salvageable, Tejada said.

Police interview family members who escaped the house fire this morning. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Fire investigators had not established the cause of the blaze, which was reported at 5:42 a.m. Bautista said it broke out in his bedroom, but added that he was sleeping elsewhere in the house.

The first engine company arrived four minutes later; a total of nine fire units, including a hazmat unit called as a precaution, were involved, Tejada said.