'Lost' actress loses Kailua home

No one is injured in a morning fire that destroys a house in Enchanted Lake

Electrical failure in an outlet in the lanai areas of the rented home of "Lost" television actress Evangeline Lilly caused a fire which destroyed the home, according to a Honolulu Fire Department spokesman.

A neighbor said she saw Lilly and her stunt double on the show leave the house at about 5:15 a.m. Neighbors said Lilly had one other roommate besides the stunt double.

Lilly's publicist, Cara Tripicchio, said the actress had an early call for the show yesterday. She said she has no statement or comment from Lilly.

Jorge Duarte lives across the street from Lilly. When he learned of the fire, he ran to the home, where other people had already gathered.

"We were trying to get into the house. We thought somebody was inside," he said.

A pickup truck belonging to one of Lilly's roommates was in the driveway.

Steel bars prevented him from breaking through any of the windows, so Duarte said he broke the glass panel next to the front door. When smoke rushed out, he said he knew no one would be able to get inside.

So he took the garden hose and started spraying a neighbor's home to limit damage from the burning structure.

That was when Jill Turner ran out of her home.

"I said, 'Good job, keep spraying,' and I ran around the back of the house and started spraying in the back," she said.

Turner said she continued spraying the neighbor's home until a wind gust and flying embers the size of bricks made it too dangerous. The first of seven Fire Department companies was on scene six minutes after the 6:43 alarm, said Capt. Kenison Tejada, HFD spokesman. The fire was fully involved when firefighters arrived, and brought under control at 7:17 a.m.

A roommate returned to the scene at 7:45 a.m. and confirmed that none of the three women who lived at the house were home when the fire broke out, Tejada said.

Damage was estimated to be $250,000 to the structure and $50,000 to the contents.

But neighbors said the real damage is the lost privacy she and her neighbors tried to maintain for their celebrity neighbor.

Turner said all of the neighbors respected Lilly's privacy, and she spoke to her just once, when she encountered Lilly on one of the actress's frequent walks in the neighborhood. One neighbor said she pulled "Lost" cast member Dominic Monaghan into her home yesterday when he went to survey the fire damage, to shield him from media cameras.