Honolulu police and fire officials investigated a fire yesterday that consumed a home at 461 Makaha Valley Road.
Man burned and
7 homeless after alleged
arson at Makaha homeAbout $200,000 in damage is done
in the fire witnesses say began
as a domestic argument
A man suffered burns to his lower body yesterday after he set his house on fire during an argument with his girlfriend, police said.
The three-bedroom home at 461 Makaha Valley Road was destroyed in the blaze, leaving seven people homeless.
The man fled the scene in a truck, and a friend took him to Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center.
The man's condition was not available yesterday, but police expected him to be transferred to Straub Clinic & Hospital last night.
When firefighters arrived at the scene just before 5 p.m. yesterday, the home was engulfed in flames.
Neighbors said 20-foot flames were shooting up and singeing nearby canopy trees. Two homes near the residence were evacuated while firefighters fought the flames.
It took 20 firefighters about 11 minutes to get the blaze under control, fire Capt. Emmit Kane said.
Damage to the house is estimated at $180,000. The contents lost in the blaze were estimated at $20,000. No one was inside the home when the fire began.
"The whole house went up in flames in a minute or so," said neighbor Jamie Silva, who called 911 when she heard what sounded like an explosion at the home.
"The roof went 'woof' like one Christmas tree," she said.
Silva said that when she arrived at the home, three of its residents were using garden hoses to try to douse the flames.
Witnesses told police and fire officials that the blaze was started when a man in his 40s, who had been arguing with his girlfriend, poured gasoline in the house and lit a match.
One witness said he saw the man carrying gas containers from a boat fronting the house into the residence.
Silva said she called the Fire Department because she heard someone screaming, "Help, he's burning down my house!"
After the blaze erupted, the man was seen leaving the home with flames on his legs. He then jumped into his truck and fled the scene, Kane said.
"He ran away on fire," said Honolulu Fire Department Battalion Chief Eric Adams. "He shed his clothes ... and sped away."
Adams said the man "was badly burnt to his lower extremities" when he drove to the house of a friend, who took him to the Waianae health center.
Police Sgt. Randy Tandal said the man had not been arrested last night.
Neighbors said the suspect and his girlfriend, who is also in her 40s, had been arguing much of the day.
"They were screaming and everything," said one man, who lives three doors down and saw the flames from his back yard. "The only reason that I didn't pay attention to their screaming is because that's normal for them."
Fire officials and arson detail officers were investigating the scene last night. The American Red Cross of Hawaii was assisting those who lived in the home.
