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Sand Island
warehouse fire
burns 7 hours
A firefighter experienced with
By Jaymes K. Song
heavy equipment commandeers
a bulldozer to help
battle the blaze
Star-BulletinIf not for the expertise and quick work of Fire Capt. Leon Laba, firefighters could have been working well into this morning, battling last night's fire at the Honolulu Recovery Systems warehouse on Sand Island.
Laba, who works part-time as a heavy-machinery operator, drove a bulldozer parked at the warehouse to enter the burning building, break up stacks of burning paper products and lift them out of the building.
"If it wasn't for him, it would've took double the work time," said Fire Department spokesman Richard Soo. "His ingenuity helped cut down the time and manpower" required to fight the fire.
Even with the bulldozer, it took 60 firefighters about seven hours to extinguish the smoldering blaze in the warehouse that stored and bound recycled office materials. One firefighter was injured.
Without the bulldozer, exhausted fire crews would have had to shovel and pick at the burning heaps of recycled paper products, which would have taken well into this morning, Soo said.
Large flames and smoke were seen billowing from the structure by the first companies on scene at the three-alarm blaze, which started at 6:32 p.m. It took three hours to bring the fire under control and it was declared extinguished at 1:37 a.m.
Police and fire investigators were back at the warehouse today trying to determine what caused the blaze. There was no damage estimate as of this morning.
Laba, of the Kuakini station, said it was the another firefighter's idea to use the bulldozer to help fight the fire.
"I was trying to break up big piles of burning recycled materials," Laba said. "Trying to separate it, to get water on it."
Capt. Gabriel Nicholas, who was among the first on scene, suffered smoke inhalation and dehydration and spent the night at Straub Hospital, Soo said. The Kalihi-Kai station-based firefighter was injured after falling into a pit in the warehouse, which was dark and filled with thick smoke. He was in stable condition this morning.
Firefighters had many challenges in battling the blaze, including having to break into the building by ripping open the metal walls, contending with the darkness inside the building and having the nearest fire hydrant more than 500 yards away.
It took three fire engines connected to each other to get water from the fire hydrant to the warehouse, which is located in a isolated industrial area. The company recycles and sells large amounts of paper products to Asia.
Kirk Tengan, president of Honolulu Recovery Systems, said the warehouse was closed and locked when the fire started. He is puzzled how the fire started because there was no one inside and no flammable liquids or chemicals are stored inside.
This morning, he stared at the large 25-foot piles of water- and fire-damaged office paper outside the warehouse. "This actually used to be money," Tengan said. "Now it's a pile of rubbish."
The business is still operational and most of the damaged machinery is salvageable, Tengan said. The difficult part will be the clean-up.
