Passerby, neighbor help woman escape home fire
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
Quick thinking by a passerby and a next-door neighbor may have saved an elderly woman after fire engulfed her second-story home in St. Louis Heights yesterday morning.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
"They were heroes," said Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Kenison Tejada, speaking about those who helped Louisa Lindow, 82, escape the blaze.
A firefighter worked to contain a fire at a two-story St. Louis Heights home yesterday morning. Louisa Lindow was able to escape the fire, although her young cat, Peter, died in the blaze.
Lindow has severe heart and respiratory problems and uses a chair lift to get up and down her front steps. She had called the fire department after the blaze began and was in the rear of her home, unable to reach the front stairs and unwilling to attempt the back stairs.
Kawika Lam, 25, drove by as the house erupted in flames.
"I could see flames shooting out the windows," said Lam, who was returning home from his girlfriend's place in Hawai'i Kai.
Lam pulled over and ran around the side of the house to see if anyone was inside. Near the back of the house he said he spotted Lindow standing inside the kitchen door.
"I said, 'Are you OK? My name is Kawika and I'm going to help you.' And I could see she was elderly and really scared and she didn't want to move. I guess she had a cat inside, and was worried about it. But she was very reluctant about leaving.
"I said, 'Is there anyone else inside?' and she said no, and I said, 'We've really got to get you out of here because you can't inhale the smoke, and the flames are getting closer."
Beverly Kaku, 50, whose family has lived next door to Lindow for three decades, had also spotted the flames and rushed over to help.
"I put my arm around her and said, 'Come on Lou, let's go! One step at a time, let's go!,' " Kaku said. "I think maybe she was in a little shock and she was worried about her baby cat. But Kawika and I got her down. She wouldn't have been able to make it on her own, I don't think."
By the time Lam and Kaku had slowly helped Lindow to the bottom of the stairs, firefighters had arrived and were pumping water into the upstairs windows. Lindow, who owns the house, suffered some smoke inhalation and was taken to Straub Hospital for observation.
Peter, Lindow's young mixed breed black cat, died in the blaze.
The fire at 1707 Alencastre St. caused an estimated $275,000 in damage to the house and its contents, according to Tejada. He said investigators concluded that the fire was caused by a short in an electrical outlet behind the television set in Lindow's bedroom.
Lindow reported the fire at 8:48 a.m. and seven companies and 35 firefighters fought the blaze, which was under control at 9:13 a.m.
"The woman from the house is the one who called us," said Tejada. "She said she had problems with her TV and she unplugged it and there was some flames. By the time the crews were going up the hill, they could see the house was involved. In the meantime, the woman had called back and told us there was a lot of smoke."
Roger Long, 65, a professor and associate dean of Arts and Humanities at the University of Hawai'i, has for several years rented the downstairs portion of the house.
Long said his immediate concern was for Lindow after he smelled smoke from upstairs, but after Lam and Kaku had led the woman to safety, he began trying to save his belongings.
Long said books and furniture were ruined by water damage. But, with the help of Lam and others, he thinks he managed to save most of the Asian research materials he had been collecting for decades.
Red Cross workers on the scene offered to find lodging for Long, but he said he could stay with friends. Sarah Pendleton, Lindow's best friend and caretaker, said the woman would stay with her at the Kahala Towers.
Tejada said Lindow apparently had gone to the kitchen to get an extinguisher after she noticed the flames, but by the time she got there the smoke and fire were spreading quickly toward the back of the house.
Pendleton said Lindow appeared to be alert and feeling OK considering her condition and what she had just been through.
"She has an amazing spirit," Pendleton said. "She was cheerful. She's very fragile, but she seemed to be in pretty good shape."
Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8038.
