Firefighters brought the blaze under control at 3:45 and extinguished it 10 minutes later.

The two men who lived in the studio apartment were attending classes at nearby University of Hawai'i and were not at home when the fire broke out, said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Emmit Kane. The American Red Cross was assisting them and a family who lived directly above the burned unit in the aftermath of the fire.

One of the firefighters who arrived early at the scene suffered burns and was taken to Straub Hospital and Clinic for treatment, Kane said. The firefighter's injuries were not serious.

Scott Kramer and Hana Kurihara were in their ninth-floor apartment at the time of the fire.

"I went to look out and a bunch of black smoke came flying into the window," Kramer said.

He said the smoke was so thick, he couldn't tell what floor the fire was on. He and Kurihara are graduate students at UH.

"I grabbed my dissertation, threw a shirt on and went down the stairs," Kramer said. "I thought I was screwed because I already lost information at the school because of the flooding, so I thought that I was gonna get flood and then fire."

Kurihara said there was no panic among the residents as they evacuated the building. She said she saw the manager's wife running door to door to get people out.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, Kane said. Damage was estimated at $110,000 to the apartment and its contents, and $200,000 to the building.

Neighboring units suffered smoke and water damage, but the residents should have been able to return last night, Kane said. Firefighters broke into a unit directly above the burned-out apartment to be sure the fire did not spread there, he said.

Claude, who did not want to give his last name, lives three floors above the fire and said he was alerted by tree trimmers shouting "fire!" He said he was doing laundry when he found that he had to flee his apartment.