WAIPAHU — Seventeen-year-old Braennan Parubrub knew where the flames were coming home and raced from his Hapawalu Place home to an abandoned gas station where homeless often go to sleep to check on his father.

Parubrub was relieved to see his father, Roland Parubrub Jr., standing on the sidewalk across from the burning building on the 94-1100 block of Waipahu Street.

"It was big, blazing," Braennan Parubrub, a Leeward Community College student, said of the fire, which started shortly before 10 last night. "It's an abandoned gas station. All the homeless people sleep there in the front (structure)."

He added, "We heard someone set it on fire. Lucky nobody got hurt."

His parents are divorced and Roland Parubrub is homeless, Braennan Parubrub said.

Kevin Ignacio, 18, went with Braennan Parubrub to the fire scene. "You could feel the heat (from Hapawalu Place)," Ignacio said.

Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Earle Kealoha said a man and woman staying in a building in back of the front structure which burned escaped injury. An elderly care home next to the fire building was not damaged.

Cause of fire is under investigation.