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Sparks from
brush fire damage
homes in Maili
Quick-acting neighbors
By Mary Adamski
join forces until firefighters
arrive on the scene
Star-BulletinWindblown embers from a Maili brush fire ignited roof fires on Mamoalii Way yesterday, but firefighters credited neighbors with garden hoses for limiting the damage to three homes.
"It's a whole lot better than I thought, praise the Lord," said Shirley Davenport, when she returned home at 4 p.m., three hours after fleeing the fire front which came within a few yards of their house.
Her husband, Calvin, hosed the house roof before they left. They found a small patch of scorched roofing and no damage inside.
"The sky was red over the house," said Davenport. "It went from 60 yards away to the back door in 10 minutes. I came out of there hysterical, crying."
Homes on Mamoalii Way and Mamoalii Place border open acreage which has been the scene of previous brush fires.
The worst damage yesterday was to a wooden single-story duplex occupied by Allan Pesquira and the Craig Wood family. The Woods' two-bedroom home sustained $120,000 damage to the building and $25,000 damage to contents. Firefighters estimated the damage to the Pesquira unit at $70,000 to the building and $15,000 to contents.There were no people at home when the duplex caught fire. Neighborhood children checked later to affirm that the Woods' two dogs survived.
Dozens of children ran through the neighborhood as firefighters rolled up hoses preparing to leave and adults gathered in clusters sharing their relief at disaster averted.
But Kevin LaPlant, president of the Palm Grove subdivision association, said residents aren't willing to let it go at that.
The 60-unit subdivision was threatened by a similar blaze about three years ago, he said, and government officials have not made good on promises of safeguards.
LaPlant said the open land is an 89-acre plot owned by the Navy.
"After the last fire, they came and did bulldoze a 1,000-foot fire break. But neither federal, state or city has ever come back to clear the brush that grew back," he said. Association officers are trying to reach the civilian property manager based in California, he said, and will pursue action to protect their homes.
Capt. Richard Soo, Fire Department spokesman, said the federal government has reportedly sold the land to a private owner, whose name was not known yesterday.
The duplex has a wooden shake roof, while the other home, where damage was estimated at only $250, has an asphalt tile roof. Soo said the composition of the roofs was a factor in the damage done. Shake roofs meet building code requirements, he said, but when dried out, they are more flammable.
Alolua Cunningham lives next to the burned building, also in a house with a shake roof. She said when she smelled smoke, she handed the infant grandchild she was holding to someone else and "I jump on my roof with the hose. I cannot see nothing, the smoke is so thick. When the firemen arrived, people are already on the roofs shooting water. I was too late for the neighbor's roof, it was already on fire."
She remembers previous fires. "If I smell smoke at night, it makes me nervous. I get up and go look.
"I tell my grandkids, you don't burn nothing, you don't even touch matches."
On the other side of the damaged home was another grandmother wielding a garden hose.
"I just arrived yesterday," said Carol Elstad of Neskwin, Ore. "I told my granddaughter Savannah to close the windows and sent my grandson Austin to wake the neighbor. I stayed with the house. Every time I come here, something like this happens."
Soo said more than 50 firefighters fought the blaze, which was reported at 12:41 p.m. and considered under control at 2:49 p.m. In addition to 10 Honolulu Fire Department companies, four units from the federal government fire department worked at the scene. Firemen remained last night to monitor flare-ups.
The American Red Cross is assisting the families whose homes were damaged.
