GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Six-year-old Robin Potts of Mililani looked over the damage done to his living room by a fast-burning fire yesterday.

Townhouse fire
puts a damper
on Christmas

A Mililani family of 6 is safe
but homeless for the holidays

---

By Craig Gima
cgima@starbulletin.com

Robin Potts planned to bring a Christmas tree home today from his job in a warehouse -- a gift from his employer.

But that plan changed yesterday morning when fire destroyed the three-bedroom Mililani townhouse where Potts lived with his wife, three children and mother-in-law.

"I don't think so," he said about the tree, "not this year."

Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Richard Soo said a child playing with a lighter started the fire on a bed in an upstairs room at 94-275 Kupulau Place.

Potts said his wife, Jean, was home taking care of the couple's two younger children when a smoke alarm went off shortly after 9 a.m. She went to her mother's bedroom, opened the door and found the room engulfed in flames.

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Mililani residents, from left, Jean Potts, her 10-month-old daughter Jennifer and Potts' mother, Joyce Panganiban, hugged each other in the garage of their burned home yesterday afternoon.

Potts said his wife unsuccessfully tried to fight the fire with an extinguisher, but then grabbed the two children, a 10-month-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, and their Pomeranian dog named Lucky and got out of the house. Their oldest child, a 6-year-old boy, was in school when the fire started.

Next door, Tina Whalen said other neighbors woke her up yelling at her to move her car. When she got outside and looked up, "I could just see the fire," she said.

Her home suffered water damage because the force of the firefighter's hoses broke windows in a bedroom.

Damage to the Potts' home and contents is estimated at $115,000. An adjoining townhouse was also damaged by the fire.

Potts' mother-in-law, Joyce Panganiban, 64, went into shock when she returned home from work and had to be taken by ambulance to Wahiawa General Hospital.

Potts said she is apparently OK, but the hospital wanted to run some tests. Potts said Panganiban's bedroom is gutted. The other bedrooms are also badly damaged. He said he and his wife had just bought clothes on sale at J.C. Penney for their children for Christmas.

"I'm not worried about that," he said. "My family's safe. That's my main issue."

Potts' father dropped off food from the family's restaurant in Wahiawa. Potts shared the food with neighbors and fire investigators.

The Red Cross is helping the family replace clothing, and Potts said they will stay with other family members.

Potts said instead of spending today putting up the Christmas tree, he will probably have to comb through the rubble trying to salvage any belongings.