WAHIAWA — Neighbors helped rescue two women and three children from an apartment fire yesterday, but had no chance to go back into the burning second-floor walk-up unit one more time for a 2-year-old boy, who perished.

"The family kept saying the little boy was still inside, but the fire was too strong by then," said Sala Filoi, 33, who lives in the unit next to apartment C-3 at 284 California Ave.

The medical examiner's office identified the boy as Nathaniel Nunes, 2.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, said fire department spokesman Capt. Chris Ah Mook Sang.

The fire, which was reported at 2:34 p.m., broke out in the middle of three second-floor apartments. When firefighters arrived, the unit was engulfed in flames, Ah Mook Sang said. Firefighters discovered the boy's body inside.

Damage was estimated at $50,000 to the structure and $10,000 for contents. The Hawai'i Chapter of the American Red Cross was assisting the family with clothing, food and temporary shelter.

Elena Lafaela, 28, who lives in the corner unit on the opposite side of Filoi, said that before the fire, she was talking with friend Susie Malaeulu, 23, outside of her apartment a few feet away from apartment C-3. Malaeulu mentioned she smelled smoke. Lafaela went inside her apartment to check and found nothing.

When Lafaela returned outside, she and Malaeulu saw smoke coming from the next-door apartment's open front door and window.

"We called out, asked them if they needed help, but we heard nothing, nobody screaming," Lafaela said. "We called 911 and got help to get the kids out. We brought out three kids. The two (women) were standing on the balcony and we told them to climb over to our side.

"The (boy) didn't make it. He was in the room where the fire started. Through all the fire, we never heard a thing from them (the family in apartment C-3)."

Filoi, who saw the fire blow a hole through her living room wall as she was helping her 65-year-old father out of her unit, also heard no one calling for help from the burning unit.

"I can't help wondering how come they never come out or call out for help," Filoi said.

The two women and four children, who moved into apartment C-3 about a year ago, were "nice people, quiet," he said.

The two women who escaped the fire are mother and daughter, neighbors said.

Police later charged 39-year-old Kerry Sanders with the fatal stabbing. Sanders is awaiting trial.