Wai'alae house fire leaves one dead, snarls traffic

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

Police yesterday were investigating a double house fire in Wai'alae that left one person dead and backed up traffic along Kalaniana'ole Highway and H-1 Freeway near Kahala Mall throughout much of the morning and afternoon.

A firefighter catches his breath after battling yesterday's deadly house fire in Wai'alae. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

Police at the scene said that the victim found at 1184 Iki Place was an "unidentified fatality" and that the woman who owned the home was unaccounted for.

However, Eileen Yabiku, who lives across the road, said the only person who lived in the house was the owner, Yasuko Kawada.

"The police asked me if I thought anyone was in the house, and I knew the car was in the garage, so I pretty much knew she'd probably be home," Yabiku said. "If the car is home, she's usually home."

Yabiku described Kawada as a "real sweet lady" and widow in her 70s who liked to collect nice things that she could display in her home. She said because Kawada had diabetes, it was difficult for her to move around and so things tended to accumulate and pile up.

Albert Pang and his daughter Varina Pang live in the house at 1190 Iki Place, directly mauka of Kawada's home. Although a large mango tree in the Pangs' yard was singed by the heat and flames, their residence was not damaged because the winds were blowing toward the ocean, Varina Pang said.

"It was huge flames," said Varina Pang, who said the fire spread through her neighbor's home in moments. She said she and her father along with another neighbor ran into the back yard and began squirting water from garden hoses onto Kawada's house. She said the effort did little good.

"We were so concerned about her house that while we were shooting water on her house, someone else came over and started shooting water on our roof," she said. "I was down at the other end, so I didn't feel the heat. But my father was up here and he felt it."

Pang said she didn't know if Kawada was home at the time. But she said at around noon police came over and informed her that they had found a body inside the house. Pang said her family had known Kawada for about 20 years.

Firefighters said the blaze was most intense near the front of the house.

"The unidentified fatality was found in this front portion of the house," said HFD Capt. Kenison Tejada, as he surveyed the damage. "We we do not yet know the cause.

"We got the alarm at 11:09 a.m. and we were on the scene a minute later. By the time we were able to set up, the house was completely engulfed, as well as the garage. The flames were lapping over to the house at 1174 Iki Place, so we sounded a second alarm automatically."

Tejada said firefighters had difficulty getting into some areas of the house because the fire was spread throughout it.

"There were a lot of things inside the house that would prevent you from moving around freely," he said.

Kawada's residence was a one-story, four-bedroom, 1,300-square-foot house with a two-car garage, built in 1961. Tejada estimated the damage to the home and its contents at $240,000. He placed the estimated damage to the structure and contents of the house at 1174 Iki Place at $100,000.

Tejada said a five-person hazardous materials unit was also called to the scene as a precaution to monitor chemical odors that were noticed around the area of the fire. Tejada said once that unit gave the all clear, police and the medical examiner were allowed to continue their investigation.

He said investigators remained at the house throughout the afternoon.

Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.