Husband hurt trying to save wife
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
Friends and neighbors of longtime Kahala residents Lily and Takashi Honda, both 81, were stunned yesterday by the Monday night blaze that killed Lily Honda, sent her husband to the hospital, and destroyed the couple's 45-year-old home on Kaimanahila Street.
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"It was a shock," said Florence Miyano, who has lived across the street at 619 Hakaka since a year after the Hondas built their home in 1959. She described her neighbor as a friendly woman who had once been an excellent seamstress.
Fire officials said they are focusing on a living room entertainment center as the source of the fire that destroyed the Kaimanahila Street home of Lily and Takashi Honda. Lily Honda, 81, died in the blaze, and her husband was hospitalized with burns to his hands and neck.
"I knew her very well."
Miyano said when she smelled smoke late Monday she dashed into her kitchen thinking it was the stove. Soon, she realized smoke and flames were coming from the Hondas' home.
"You hear about fires, but who would think there would be a fire right here in the neighborhood? And to think you would die in your own home in a fire. ... It's terrifying."
Miyano said that in recent years, Lily Honda suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Miyano said her husband, Katsumi, spoke to Lily Honda not long ago and that she didn't recognize him.
Randall Honda, 51, one of the Hondas' three sons, said his dad was doing well at the hospital.
"He's OK," said Honda, a Kaimuki dentist who was in practice with his father until the elder Honda retired a little over a decade ago. "They think he may come out of the hospital tomorrow. He got burned on the hands and part of his back. Physically, he's pretty good. I don't know how he is mentally."
Honda said his parents married in 1948. He and his brothers had spent much of their childhood in the spacious home.
"Of course, we didn't want to lose her," said Honda, who said his mother's Alzheimer's disease had been difficult on the family. "In that way it's over for her."
He said the family hopes she didn't suffer long.
Photo courtesy Randall Honda
Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Emmit Kane said firefighters got the call at 10:27 p.m. Monday and arrived at the home, on the corner of Hakaka and Kaimanahila, six minutes later. He said the home was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.
Takashi Honda was injured trying to save his wife, Lily, from the Monday night fire that destroyed their Kähala home.
He said fire investigators, who had found no evidence of foul play, were concentrating on the living room entertainment center as the source of the blaze.
Kane said Takashi Honda told authorities he was alerted by the popping and cracking of the fire and went down the hallway of the eight-room house yelling, "Fire, fire, get out!"
Kane said Honda at first tried to put the fire out in the living room with a garden hose, but soon realized the flames were out of control.
"At that point, I think he tried to re-enter the hallway, but the fire was too big. He wasn't able to get his wife," Kane said.
Firefighters found Lily Honda in a bathroom and carried her out a back window of the house. Firefighters attempted CPR, but were unable to revive her. Takashi Honda was taken by ambulance to Straub Clinic and Hospital with burns on his hands and face.
Firefighters estimated the loss of the home at $450,000.
George Lum, who has lived next door for more than four decades, said the Hondas were among the very first people to build in the subdivision.
Lum said he first heard passers-by or neighbors banging on the doors of the home and yelling for people inside to get out.
"We were concerned, because we knew there were elderly people in there and we didn't know what was going on," Lum said. "The fire looked like it was out of control."
Kane said Honolulu has had 14 structure fire deaths in 2004. In 2003, there was one fire death, three the year before and two the year before that. Eight of the deaths happened in fires that were intentionally set, he said.
Kane said a properly installed, working smoke alarm can help alert residents to a fire in time to save lives.
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
