By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Flowers and other offerings are left as a memorial
next to the Palolo homes where seven people perished
in Oahu's deadliest fire ever.
Deadly Palolo fire
worst in history
The surviving son helps investigators
By Debra Barayuga and Jaymes Song
probe the cause of the blaze that
took seven lives
Star-BulletinSixteen-year-old Ulutunu Faumuina Jr. revisited his home today for the first time since a fire killed seven members of his family. He stood and stared amid the rubble and ashes where his Palolo Avenue home used to stand.
Faumuina described to fire and police investigators the layout of his house, and he showed them the location of the electrical outlet that allegedly sparked the inferno.
Firefighters said yesterday's blaze was the deadliest in the history of the Honolulu Fire Department.
"I've seen bigger fires, but for fatals, this is the worst," said Art Brown, one of two fire investigators assigned to the case.
Palolo firefighters saw a glow in the valley as they responded to a medical call at 12:30 a.m. yesterday, fire Capt. Ed Gabriel said.
They reported the fire, then continued with the "possible stroke" call.
An engine from the Kaimuki Fire Station arrived four minutes after the 12:36 a.m. fire alarm.
Engine and ladder units from McCully and Waikiki, and later Palolo, arrived within minutes of each other, Gabriel said.
"I know they got here as fast as they could, but when they came, the structure was down already," he said.
Investigators have been sifting through ashes to find the electrical device that they are "99 percent" sure is the cause of the fire.
"We just need to confirm that 1 percent," police Detective Robert Carvalho said.
The fire killed three generations of the Faumuina family: Uulu Faumuina; his son Kalani, 12; Faumuina's daughter Ramona Asuao; her husband Tupu, 31; and the Asuao's three children, twin daughters Aotoa and Lele, 4, and son A.J., 6.
Faumuina's wife, Elaine, and son Ulutunu Faumuina Jr., who discovered the fire and tried to warn his family, escaped.
Elaine Faumuina was being treated at Kaiser Hospital this morning with first- and second-degree burns on her feet, according to a hospital spokeswoman.
Elaine Faumuina probably was saved because her husband would not let her back into the burning home after she got out, said Bronson Phanphongsa, one of the several neighbors who called 911.
Phanphongsa's home, just a few feet away on the hill above the Faumuinas, was blistered by the fire's heat.
Faumuina left his wife outside crying while he went back inside to try and save the others, but he never came out, said Phanphongsa.
The neighbor, who was awakened by screams, said he briefly trained water from a garden hose on the home below, where the flames were shooting straight up into the air.
When investigators checked the scene yesterday, they found the dead family members near the back of the home, where the bedrooms were located. All were burned beyond recognition, said fire Capt. Glenn Solem, lead investigator. Autopsies are pending.
Tupu Asuao and his 6-year-old son apparently had escaped through a back bedroom window. But their bodies were found on the ground in a 3-foot space between the back wall of the home and a stone wall.
The bodies of Faumuina, grasping one of his granddaughters, and daughter Ramona were found in the right bedroom near a window. Ramona's 12-year-old brother was found in the left bedroom. The other daughter was found in the hallway.
Fire officials gave this account:
Ulutunu Faumuina Jr. had fallen asleep listening to a radio in an open storage area under the home, which is raised about four feet off the ground on stilts. He awakened to heat near his right thigh and saw a pile of clothes nearby on fire. He tried to warn family members.
The elder Faumuina, awakened by the commotion, ran downstairs, saw the flames and ran back into the home to get his family out.
Two women who lived next door smelled smoke, heard crackling and called 911.
An elderly woman who lived in the home on the right of the Faumuinas managed to escape unharmed.
Nothing but plumbing remained standing in the two-bedroom home the elder Faumuina and his wife had rented for the past 10 years.
The Asuaos had moved in about five months ago with their children.
Loss of the home was estimated at $120,000 and $30,000 to contents.
A propane container that apparently had been stored under the home had vented and may have contributed to the fire spreading so quickly, Brown said.
Fire investigators spent yesterday sifting through the rubble, hoping to find evidence of an electrical extension cord or parts of a radio.
The clock radio apparently had been hooked up to an extension cord that snaked under the house to the left side of the home to an outlet near a washing machine, Brown said.
Damage to the two-story home next door was estimated at $140,000 to the structure and $40,000 to contents. Although separated by a hollow tile wall, the home on the other side sustained $200,000 damage to the structure.The closeness of the three homes, less than 10 feet apart, contributed to the extensive damage, Brown said. Wind might also have been a factor.
"It's very tragic," said Brown.
By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
A pair of charred kitchen appliances stand amid the
ruins of a Palolo home where seven people died.
Investigators suspect the cause of the fire
may have been electrical.
Palolo neighbors, friends
By Jaymes Song
share in family’s grief
Star-BulletinClothes untouched by the fire still hung on a clothesline nearby. Bouquets of flowers and canned juice lay in a mound on the hill just above the remains of the home, left by family and friends who visited the site yesterday.
Today, the cool, calm morning is a very different scene from 24 hours ago at 1816 Palolo Ave., where seven members of one family lost their lives.
The nauseous scent of burned wood and rubber, the intense heat, the victims' cries, the 30-foot flames have all gone.
But the smell on the towels and curtains at Margaret Sasaki's home is a constant reminder of yesterday morning's disastrous blaze that took the lives of three adults and four children.
An emotional Sasaki thanks God that her family and home were not consumed by the blaze.
"I feel so sorry for the family of the seven members," she said. "I hope this never happens again. It's terrible."
At Kaiser Hospital in Moanalua this morning, a steady stream of people went in and out of Elaine Faumuina's room. Outside the door, a sign was posted: "Immediate family only, by request."
Nua Asuao, whose brother-in-
law Tupu Asuao and wife Ramona were among those who died, was one of those waiting to offer comfort from the hallway, where Elaine's crying could be heard.
Asuao said her in-laws, who perished with three of their children, also left behind another son, Justin, 7-1/2, who lives in Western Samoa.
"They haven't told Justin yet," she said. "How do you tell a little boy that his parents and brothers and sisters died?"
Elaine Faumina was to be released today from the hospital after suffering burns to her feet.
At Frank's Palolo Market, donations filled the collection can as fast as tears filled eyes.
Rodney Kuewa, a Waikiki resident, drove to the market to drop a few dollars in the plastic can after reading about the fire in the newspaper. "I felt sorry for the family," he said. "I just wanted to help any way I could. The kids are so young. They didn't even live a life yet."
Reinalynn Gabriel, who was a co-worker with fire victim Ramona Asuao at the market, greeted people with tears and hugs.
"It's hard to sleep," she said, adding that Asuao was a sister to her. "I lost my sister. Now I am alone."
Two of the four families left homeless by the fire were placed in a hotel last night by the American Red Cross.
Nine adults and six children were given vouchers to buy food and clothing in the relief effort.
Herbert Suzuki yesterday took daughter Latasha, 4, a playmate of the Asuao twins, to show her the devastation so she could understand what fire can do.
"No more 'Mona," Suzuki told his daughter as they started back down the hill.
Star-Bulletin reporters Mary Adamski and
Linda Aragon contributed to this report.
Counselors stem
fire’s aftermathThe Red Cross and Helping Hands
By Mary Adamski
Hawaii are helping folks cope
Star-BulletinWhile firefighters and police were still at the scene of yesterday's fatal fire, mental health professionals began their own emergency response, helping acquaintances and classmates handle the emotional effects of the tragedy. Today, firefighters were to receive similar counseling in a crisis debriefing by a Red Cross team.
"I tell them it's all right to feel sad. I assure them this was an accident and it's not going to happen to them when they go home," said psychologist Neva Owens, who spoke to preschool children and teachers at the Palolo Head Start program and Palolo Elementary School.
Owens was one of the Red Cross disaster team volunteers summoned to the scene of the blaze that killed seven members of the Faumuina and Asuao families.
The victims included A.J. Faumuina, 6, and his twin sisters, Aotoa and Lele, 4, who attended Head Start, and Kalani Faumuina, 12, a Jarrett Intermediate School sixth-grader and former Palolo Elementary School student.
The public schools also called in Helping Hands Hawaii, a private firm under contract to provide crisis counseling in the schools.
"With older children ... they may feel alone, feel angry at a person for being gone, angry at themselves for not being able to help out," said a social worker with the Helping Hands team that went to the intermediate school. He said the nonprofit firm's policy prohibited identifying himself.
The social worker said the Crisis Response Systems Project team just does short-term counseling, but "we educate teachers to know what to look for in children having a hard time dealing with the death."
Owens said the Palolo preschoolers had just visited a fire station last week for Fire Prevention Week, so "it was very relevant for them. At this age, it is not quite as intense (understanding). I just gave them the news. I told them nobody wants this to happen.
"It was more emotional with the teachers," Owens said. "These teachers had lost friends as well." The toddlers' mother, Ramona Asuao, was actively involved with the Head Start program.
"I talked to them, helping them get into touch with their own feelings so they can be honest and up front and be helpful for the children. I told them to tell parents to give the children a lot of hugs."
Jarrett Intermediate School held an assembly yesterday to let the students know that counseling is available to them. "It was how to deal with (the death) and what the feelings were like and what to expect," said Principal Dennis Dobies. After the assembly, 30 students stayed to discuss their feelings about classmate Kalani Faumuina's death.
Dobies plans to hold a memorial to honor Kalani. "We will offer our condolences and sympathy to the family and whatever the school can do to help."
Palolo Elementary Principal Velma Omura said: "(The students) understand death, maybe not as abstractly as adults. They know a person is not going to be around. It's harder on the adults because we understand what happened."
"These children are survivors. They'll come around," she said.
Star-Bulletin reporter Jaymes Song
contributed to this report.
