GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Honolulu firefighters investigated a second-floor blaze yesterday at an apartment building at 2024 Kapiolani Blvd. The fire destroyed one unit and damaged two adjoining apartments. The cause is under investigation.
Fire burns 3
Kapiolani apartmentsNo one is hurt, and the cause of
the blaze near McCully Street
remains unknown
A fire at 2024 Kapiolani Blvd. burned a second-floor studio apartment and damaged two adjoining apartments yesterday.
No one was injured in the blaze in a two-story brick, mortar and wood building near the intersection with McCully Street. Neighbors said the woman who lives in the apartment was not home at the time of the fire.
Sylaiman Dawo, who lives next door to the apartment that caught fire, said he smelled smoke but thought it was someone cooking until a person knocked on his door and yelled fire.
Dawo said his first instinct was to save his identification papers and books, which he tossed over the second-floor railing. Dawo went back into his apartment and grabbed some clothes and even managed, despite the smoke, to unscrew the cable from his television set and save it.
But he said the heavy smoke prevented him from grabbing his microwave and a tuxedo.
"I couldn't think," he said as he stood, shirtless, watching firefighters mop up. "I've seen this on TV. I never thought that it would happen to me."
James Deluze, who lives in the apartment complex next door, said he heard popping noises, looked outside and saw flames pouring out of the windows and burning the wooden lanai.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Apartment dweller Sylaiman Dawo stood with the belongings he rescued from his unit yesterday as the neighboring unit was in flames. Dawo went back into his apartment and managed to unscrew the cable from his television set and save it.
Deluze grabbed a hose from the laundry area of his building and tried to douse the flames.
"The heat radiating was so hot it was burning my chest," he said.
Firefighters arrived shortly after the fire was reported at 2:01 p.m. and brought the flames under control within minutes after arriving. Damage is estimated at $53,000. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
