Waipahu Sugar Mill building burns
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
Dozens of H-1 motorists and Waipahu residents saw a spectacular fire last night that destroyed one of the few remaining buildings at the old Waipahu Sugar Mill.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Eight fire companies and 40 firefighters responded to the 7:13 p.m. two-alarm fire that burned an abandoned sugar mill laboratory, said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Richard Soo. The fire was under control at 7:54 p.m. and extinguished at 10:05 p.m., he said. No one was hurt.
The 170-foot smokestack in Waipahu survived last night's fire unscathed, but an abandoned sugar mill laboratory was destroyed. Cause of the fire has not been determined.
Firefighters had originally responded to a report of a brush fire at 94-880 Waipahu St., but when they arrived saw the sugar laboratory fully engulfed in flames, Soo said.
Motorists could see the fire from H-1 Freeway and witnesses reported flames from the building rising halfway up the historic 170-foot smokestack that towered behind the building. The smokestack was not damaged.
Soo said the abandoned building had no monetary value, but residents said the building held much sentimental value.
Goro Arakawa, 80, a longtime Waipahu resident and former owner of Arakawa's store on Waipahu Depot Road, said the fire destroyed a symbol of the plantation days.
"That building was one of four buildings from the plantation era over here," Arakawa said. "Now there's only three. We used to walk past the building every day back then."
Nelson Namzanillo, 57, of 'Ewa Beach, said he was relaxing at the Peacock Restaurant across the street when someone came running in and said: "Get one big fire over there."
"So we all came out and the flames were high," said Namzanillo, who worked for Oahu Sugar Co. for 30 years and was the harvesting shift supervisor.
The building was owned by the Leeward YMCA and was scheduled to be demolished to make way for an $8.6 million family-oriented center with sports facilities, said Eric Bautista of the Leeward YMCA.
Investigators last night were probing the cause of the fire. Soo called the fire "suspicious."
"We haven't ruled out anything," Soo said. "It does appear very suspicious. The building had no electricity, so it can't be ruled accidental."
Soo said it wasn't the first time firefighters responded to a suspicious fire at the sugar mill. In 1999 a fire burned another office building at the mill, Soo said.
Advertiser staff writer Curtis Lum contributed to this report.
