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By Sara Salzberg, Special to the Star-Bulletin
Neighbor Susanne Sims used a garden hose to fight
the fire next door at 4054 Koko Drive yesterday.

$160,000 fire
guts top floor of
Koko Drive home

A tenant at home
escaped with two pets

By Treena Shapiro
Star-Bulletin

When Melvin DeLuz came home, he expected to find his kitchen destroyed by a fire.

He had been working at Zippy's Restaurant in Kailua when firefighters called yesterday morning to tell him a fire had broken out in his kitchen.

"When I came up here and saw all those fire trucks, I knew that it wasn't contained to the kitchen," he said.

Built of stone, the house was still standing. But fire had gutted the top floor of the two-story Koko Drive home DeLuz, 48, shared with his 52-year-old sister. The bottom floor, where their bedrooms were, sustained heat and water damage.

The basement studio they rented to a tenant in her late 40s also sustained water damage, but Fire Capt. Richard Soo said some of the contents could be salvaged.

The fire broke out at 10:15 a.m. and was under control by 10:20. About 30 firefighters were at the scene.

The tenant had been the only one home at the time; she called 911 and exited with her dog and cat. DeLuz also owned seven cats, but firefighters said they saw no evidence that any cats had been killed in the fire.

The only injury was to a firefighter who sprained his knee trying to enter the building.

Damage was estimated at $120,000 to the building and $40,000 to the contents.

DeLuz said the home had been in his family for 60 years, and he and his sister inherited it five years ago. He estimated its value at between $400,000 and $600,000.

The home also had historic value, he said. It was built in 1918 by the U.S. Army to house visiting generals.

Susanne Sims had been sitting on the lanai next door when she saw a large flame through the kitchen window. She said she could also hear windows shattering and the rumbling of the fire. "You could hear the heat for sure," she said.

After checking whether anyone was in the home, Sims called 911, then started fighting the fire herself. "I starting hosing because this thing was building like an inferno," she said. "I'm glad I was home."

Fire investigators still have not determined the cause. The Red Cross will be providing emergency assistance to the residents.