Neighbors aid
family after fire
levels homeFriends help fix up a Laie shelter
for eight people left homeless
While bulldozers cleared the remnants of her burned-down house in Laie yesterday, Teleni Tausinga wondered how she could rebuild the home where she raised eight children over 30 years.
"It's like I lost one of my kids," Tausinga said.
Fire destroyed Tausinga's four-bedroom house about 8 p.m. Wednesday, leaving her, her husband and six of their children homeless. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Hours after the fire, friends, family and neighbors pitched in to convert a neighboring shack into a temporary shelter for the Tausingas. They said they will help the Tausingas rebuild their house.
"It's relief. Neighbors, friends, families all came together," Tausinga said.
The 16-by-14-foot structure is less than 20 feet away from the Tausingas' destroyed house. Friends have helped to install screen windows and ceiling panels and have also repainted the walls.
The family plans to live in the shack until they rebuild their home.
"Bottom line is that they get a roof over their heads," Miki Nihipali said as he hammered nails into a screen window. Nihipali and his wife worked on making their storage shack suitable as a temporary solution to the Tausingas' homeless situation.
"Everybody has their aloha," said Sharon Nihipali, who was mopping the shack's tile floor.
Others from the Laie community have also helped. Some have contributed food and lumber, while others have just stopped by to express their support and aloha.
"We're gonna do whatever we can do. We're gonna support them as best as we can because we're all family," said next-door neighbor Aina Kamakeeaina.
When the fire started, Tausinga was the only one home. She said she walked into the kitchen and saw everything in flames.
She called police and her husband from a cellular phone, then watched as the blaze "destroyed everything," she said.
Although there were no injuries, damage was estimated at $50,000 to the building and $20,000 to the contents of the house, according to fire Capt. Emmit Kane.
The fire destroyed everything in the house, including a large framed photograph of Tausinga's father that was shown at his funeral in October.
"That's what I'll miss the most," Tausinga said.
Donnelle Tausinga, one of Tausinga's daughters-in-law, will miss the house because it was where "we brought our first baby home," she said.
Donnelle Tausinga and her husband now have a house in Hauula.
Though the American Red Cross offered the family assistance on Wednesday night, the eight family members who lived in the house camped out in the garage and slept on blankets and tarps near the pile of rubble.
"We wanted to stay by our home," Teleni said.
