Family’s efforts
fail to stop blazeA pan with oil on a stove ignites,
starting a fire that kills two
Steven Nakamoto rushed downstairs to the kitchen of his Aiea home to help his son put out a fire started by oil igniting in a pan on an electric stove, a relative said.
But the Nakamotos could not put out the flames, and the fire spread rapidly through the U-shaped house, trapping Nakamoto's wife and other son upstairs, said his brother-in-law Dan Tamayei.
Nakamoto's 52-year-old wife, Gay, his sweetheart at Aiea High School, and their 26-year-old son, Jason, died yesterday in the early-morning fire.
Nakamoto, 52, and eldest son Shannon, who carried his grandmother to safety, escaped while son Ken, 22, arrived home to find his house ablaze.
The fire at 99-201 Lalani St. near the Aiea Shopping Center was reported at 2:36 a.m. It was brought under control in a half-hour and extinguished at 4:33 a.m. It caused an estimated $300,000 damage to the house and $50,000 to its contents.
Fire Capt. Kenison Tejada said investigators discovered a skillet with oil in it but did not know whether it had been left unattended on the stove.
The fire collapsed the roof in the middle section of the house, onto the kitchen and living room, hampering firefighters' search for the two victims.
The fire quickly spread to the other leg of the house, where the grandmother's bedroom was, and neighbors saw flames bursting out the windows.
A smoke detector was reportedly in the home, but there was only one escape route from the second floor.
Dozens of friends, relatives and neighbors rushed to the scene yesterday to comfort the grieving family.
Gay Nakamoto was known as "baseball mom," taking her three sons to all their games, said her brother Tamayei.
He said she was a "very good sister" who helped raise him when their parents divorced.
The Aiea woman was a devout churchgoer and worked as one of two office managers for a five-doctor office and as part-time counter help at Heights Drive In, both in the Aiea Medical Building.
Flo Rivera, a co-worker at the drive-in, described Nakamoto as "a very sweet person and a very hard worker."
"We work together every day," said Clara Atmospera, the other office manager. "We're pretty much in shock. We can't believe she won't be here.
"She was a big part of this office," she said. "Our office will miss her dearly."
Jason Nakamoto worked with his uncle, an electrician.
The 1995 graduate of Aiea High School played on the school's varsity and junior varsity baseball teams and continued playing ball after school in the AJA league.
"This is a shocker to me," said Mark Tanaka, an Aiea High School varsity baseball teammate, now the junior varsity baseball coach. "I knew him pretty well."
Nakamoto was a good player who worked hard, Tanaka said, mostly playing outfield.
