DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Police and fire investigators looked over the damage to a house at 4271 Kaimanahila St. in Kahala yesterday. An 81-year-old woman died in the Monday night blaze after she was unable to escape from the house.

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Elderly woman dies
in Kahala house fire

A man escapes after hearing
flames but fails to find his wife

An 81-year-old Kahala woman died after she was unable to escape from her burning house Monday night.

Honolulu firefighters said they found Lily Honda in the bathroom of her home at 4271 Kaimanahila St., and that she was pronounced dead at the scene by ambulance personnel.

Honda's husband, Takashi Honda, a retired dentist, was taken by ambulance to Straub Clinic & Hospital where he was treated for burns. The fire was reported at 10:28 p.m.

Witnesses said that, according to Takashi, the couple had been asleep when he heard the crackling and popping sounds of a fire.

"Once he became aware of the fire, he tried to put it out but by then it was too late, it had progressed too far," said Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Emmit Kane. "He yelled for his wife to get out but could not locate her."

Witnesses said they saw Takashi Honda stumble out of his burning home and tried to help.

"He was waking in a daze," said Barclay Lew, who was visiting his in-law's across the street from the Honda's home. "He was singed from the forehead up."

"We broke a window on the side and called her name, but didn't hear anything," Lew said.

The flames were burning 5 to 10 feet above the roof, Lew said.

Relatives were at the home yesterday morning. A man who identified himself as Takashi Honda's brother said the couple had been living there since the house was built in 1959.

The flames in the central part of the house were so intense that the roof caved in. Damage is estimated at $450,000 to the house and its contents.

This is the 18th fire-related fatality in 2004, including four people killed in a fiery crash on the H-1 freeway near Waipahu in February.