---

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM A fire at 1040 Kinau St. was nearly extinguished by neighbors yesterday morning before firefighters arrived. There were no occupants in the apartment when the fire started, according to neighbor Paul Coleman, who helped fight the blaze.

---

Neighbors aid
firefighting effort

The fire occurred on the 12th floor of 1040 Kinau St. at 10:54 a.m. Residents on floors below said they smelled the smoke and looked up and flames shooting out the window of Unit 1207.

"I didn't hear the first window crack, but I looked up and saw the second one break," said Chris Leger, who lives on the building's fourth floor. "Flames started shooting out at least four or five feet out of the window.

"I started banging on the doors of my floor to tell people to get out ... but someone was already up there trying to fight the fire with a hose."

Paul Fox, who lives in Unit 1206 next door to the fire, said he grabbed the fire hose on the floor and tried shooting water through the apartment window. He was soon joined by seventh-floor resident Paul Coleman, who at 6 feet 5 inches tall and 250 pounds helped break down the door.

"I tried kicking but it wouldn't go," Coleman said. "So I took a run and hit it with my shoulder, and it went."

Fox, a volunteer with the Hickam Air Force Base fire department as a training liaison, said he and Coleman worked together, taking turns using the fire hose.

"I was fighting the fire, knocked the fire down, turned the hose over to the other Paul, then did a preliminary search of the apartment," Fox said. "After a secondary search I got the dog out, and that was it."

Honolulu Fire Department officials said that although their firefighters were on scene within two minutes of the alarm, a good portion of the fire was already out, thanks to the two men.

"It was knocked down by the time we came," said Capt. Kenison Tejada, HFD spokesman.

Tejada noted that Fox is well versed in firefighting techniques from his volunteer work at Hickam and knows what he is doing. Otherwise, Tejada said, HFD does not recommend that people risk their safety to fight fires.

"In this particular case, it was a good thing because one of those guys has experience," Tejada said. "He (Fox) knows about fire. ... They were eating smoke, and he knew not to stay in that too long so they took turns fighting the fire.

"Otherwise, we don't encourage anybody to take a house line, make forcible entry and fight an interior house fire."

The fire caused an estimated $30,000 in damage to the apartment and its contents. Tejada said the cause of the fire is under investigation, although it appears to have started in the living room.

The dog from Unit 1207 was unharmed, Tejada said.