Wai'anae High loses classrooms to fire

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward Oahu Writer

Damage to a 10-classroom building at Wai'anae High is estimated at $750,000, including computers and books. More photos below. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Schools here have been hit by numerous intentionally set fires in recent years, but yesterday's blaze was bigger than most.

"We've had a lot of fires over here on the Wai'anae Coast, but this is the first time in a long time that we've had a fire of this magnitude in any of the schools," school safety officer Gordon Nakanelua said.

Honolulu Fire Capt. Emmit Kane estimated damage at $750,000 to the school's U Building and its contents, which included computers and textbooks. Investigators were not ruling out arson, but it was too early to know the cause of the fire, he said.

Three second-story classrooms were gutted, and the other two sustained extensive damage. All of the first-floor rooms received minimal smoke and water damage, said Nakanelua.

"If I were to give a best guess, I would tell the teachers in those classrooms, 'Don't expect to go back until the start of next year,' " vice principal Ryan Oshita said.

Oshita said around 120 students would be directly affected and would spend the remainder of the year studying in the library.

"But it's going to affect the whole school because now the classes that normally go to the library won't be able to because they're going to have these classes in there."

The school was on break yesterday, and the damage is not expected to interfere with its scheduled reopening on Monday.

The Fire Department received the call at 2:22 p.m. and was on the scene three minutes later. A total of 35 firefighters from eight companies fought the blaze, bringing it under control at 3:10 p.m.

Capt. Kane noted that when firefighters arrived, they had to force the doors open.

"They were still locked," he said.

"Generally, if we suspect that it was an intentional fire — like kids breaking in or vandalism — we'd see a lock broken or something.

"Fire investigators didn't indicate that there was any tampering with the locks."

Nakanelua said U Building is part of a three-building complex that makes up the ninth-grade academy. Custodians had spent yesterday and Wednesday stripping and waxing floors on the second story, he said, and they had finished and locked the classrooms around noon.

"We know more or less for sure that the fire broke out in Room 204," said Nakanelua.

Michelle Toyooka, who taught English in one of the burned-out classrooms, said she first learned of the fire when one of her colleagues telephoned to ask if she had heard that the building was burning.

During that call, she said, another teacher phoned and said, "Did you know your classroom is on fire?"

"At first, I thought it was an April Fools' joke," said Toyooka. "But I soon realized it wasn't."

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

		Firemen scrape off hot embers off the roof of "U" bldg. at Waianae High School after a huge fire damaged at least 2 upper classrooms. Much of the entire building had damage. Eight fire companies responded. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
		Honolulu Firefighters wear breathing apparatus as they battle heavy smoke in classroom U203 on the second floor of the U Building at Waianae High School. The room is used for English classes. Carol Cunningham • Special to the Advertiser
		A Honolulu Firefighter uses a hatchet to break into the wall between classrooms U 203, left, and U 204 at Waianae High School. Rooms U 203, which is used for English classes, and U 204, which is used for Math classes, suffered the most damage in the fire on the second floor of the U building. Carol Cunningham • Special to the Advertiser
		Firefighters survey the damage to the classrooms at Waianae High School. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
		Honolulu Firefighters wear breathing apparatus as they as they approach the heavy smoke billowing from classroom U 204 on the second floor of the U Building at Waianae High School. The room is used for Math classes. Carol Cunningham • Special to the Advertiser