A 51-year-old man who was baking cookies in Apartment 605, where residents say the fire started, was taken to Straub Clinic & Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and first- and second-degree burns to his hands and arms, emergency workers said.

A 31-year-old woman who lives in an apartment across the hall also was taken to Straub to be treated for smoke inhalation.

The cause of the fire and a damage estimate were not immediately available.

Fire Capt. Emmit Kane said the fire was reported at 12:08 p.m. and was declared under control 20 minutes later. Kane estimates that about 100 people live in the 52-unit, nine-story Sun Hala building at 754 Ekela St., but he could not immediately say how many were displaced by the fire. He also said he expected many of the residents to be able to return to their apartments by yesterday afternoon.

As firefighters worked to put out the flames, many of the building's residents stood clustered in the carports of single-story homes across the street, swapping stories about where they were and what they were doing when the fire broke out.

Penny Caceres was visiting her daughter, whose apartment is on the fifth floor.

"I smelled smoke and heard a small explosion around 12:15," Caceres said. "The fire alarm was already going, so I went out into the hallway and began kicking the doors of the other units yelling, 'Get out! Get out!' "

Others said the fire quickly climbed up the buildings exterior to units 705, 805 and 905.

Joan Berkowsky, who lives on the floor above where the fire broke out, said her husband looked out the window and saw flames.

"He told me, 'Grab the cats, we gotta get out of here.' I could already feel the heat coming up through the floor."

Berkowsky was able to gather up one of the cats and put it in a cardboard cat carrier, but fretted over the fate of the other cat that was left behind. She said she opened her apartment door and was nearly overcome by the dense, black smoke.

"You couldn't see anything. We just kept walking 'till we got to the back stairwell where the air was really pretty clear," Berkowsky said.

James Panas, who was enjoying a day off from his job at a health food store, had returned from surfing and had just finished eating when he heard a loud explosion. He said he looked out and saw the fire and opened the hallway door in hopes of leaving the building but was overcome by the smoke in a matter of seconds.

"My wife and I shut all of the doors and windows," Panas said. "Finally one of the firemen, one of my surfing buddies, came up and helped guide us out."