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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 4:11 p.m., Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Fire destroys home of 'Lost' actress Lilly

By Dave Dondoneau and Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writers

 

Evangeline Lilly was on set this morning when a fire destroyed the home she rents in Kailua.

Advertiser library photo

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The fire that destroyed the Kailua home of a "Lost" actress brought quick response from neighbors, who used hoses to douse the flames.

Photo courtesy of Morgan Janus

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Firefighters responded to the blaze within 20 minutes of the call. The fire started before 6:30 a.m. and was put out around 7 a.m. Nobody was at home at the time and nobody was injured in the fire.

Photo courtesy of Morgan Janus

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The Kailua home that "Lost" actress and recent Golden Globe nominee Evangeline Lilly rents with two other women was engulfed in flames this morning and appears to be a total loss.

Five fire trucks responded to the call around 6:45 a.m. Neighbors said the fire started at least by 6:30 and quickly spread. There was nobody home at the time. "Lost" was filming at a Waialua Beach this morning and one of Lilly's roommates who works on the set returned home after the fire was out.

She declined comment.

The early-morning fire at 684 Iana St. in Kailua brought quick response from neighbors, many who said they heard "popping" noises as the fire raged.

"I woke up to my dogs barking," said Morgan Janus, a neighbor who lives across the street. "There were loud popping sounds, like something electrical."

Janus said by the time she got outside, firefighters had already been called and were on the scene within 20 minutes.

By 7 a.m. the fire was doused and soon after firefighters were able to enter the home. Part of the problem slowing the firefighters were the bars on the house's windows. Firefighters had to pull the bars off the weakened wood to get inside to check if anyone was home.

Nobody was, said fire department captain Kenison Tejada.

Jorge Duarte, a neighbor who lives across the street, was one of the first on the scene. He said when he saw the flames he ran across the street and broke the glass at the front door hoping to help anyone who may have been trapped inside.

However, when he broke the glass "smoke poured out," so he said he knew he couldn't go inside. He grabbed a hose and started to hose down the home and surrounding area until the fire department arrived.

Another neighbor, Jill Turner — a former firefighter — said she was in bed when she heard the popping.

When she got to the home smoke was pouring out, so she covered her mouth with her sweatshirt and started spraying water on the back and surrounding areas.

She said she heard popping glass.

"It was bad pretty quickly," she said.

Another neighbor who helped was Dian Grant.

"I was wrapping Christmas presents. I thought it was someone throwing packages through that window (by her house)."

Grant said when she saw the flames, she went outside and grabbed a hose to water down the house. She only left it to bang on the window of her own home where her 19-year-old grandson was staying.

The cast of "Lost" was scheduled to break for Christmas tomorrow.