Father, son lower selves from building to escape fire
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
A man and his son lowered themselves from their second-floor apartment to safety as a fire raged in four other units at their Kina'u Street building yesterday afternoon.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
No one was injured in the two-alarm fire at 821 Kina'u Street that left 13 people homeless. The fire was reported at 5:28 p.m. and arriving firefighters found smoke and flames billowing from four units in the two-story building near the corner of Kina'u and Ward Avenue, less than a block makai of H-1 Freeway.
Honolulu firefighters gather their equipment after extinguishing an apartment fire at 821 Kina'u Street, near Ward Avenue. The blaze left 13 people homeless last evening.
The fire was brought under control at 5:37 p.m. but not before it heavily damaged four apartments. The remaining four apartments sustained smoke damage, said fire department spokesman Capt. Emmit Kane.
Damage was estimated at $200,000 to the building and $60,000 to its contents. Kane said the fire was caused by unattended cooking in a first-floor apartment.
Although no one was injured, the intense heat from the fire made it impossible for the man and boy to reach the stairs, Kane said. The two had to hang over the side of the building and lower themselves to the ground, he said.
Joe Timulty and his wife live across the street from the burned-out building. He said they first realized that something was wrong when they heard a woman screaming.
"This woman came running out of the building," Timulty said. "The flames were shooting 15 to 20 feet from the front and were starting to come out the back. I thought the ceiling was going to cave in because the flames were coming up from the roof."
He said strong winds blew the flames down an alley and "bounced" the flames off a neighboring building.
Timulty, a retired Coast Guard rescue swimmer, said he was prepared to enter the building if needed. But said he also was concerned because of the fumes from the burning material.
"I was just listening for screams. I was just making sure everybody got out," he said. "I would have gone in with a wet towel if somebody was hurt."
Kane said four units are not habitable and the other four had enough smoke damage that the residents probably would not return there last night.
The American Red Cross was helping the residents with housing and other needs.
Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com
