CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Fire investigators believe a house fire at 91-1323 Maliko St. in Ewa Beach started in the first-floor bedroom. The blaze, which was reported at 8:58 a.m. yesterday morning and was under control by 9:13 a.m., caused about $250,000 in damage.

Ewa Beach blaze displaces 5 people

3-year-old boy is left with burns on legs

A house fire in Ewa Beach yesterday has left a family of five without a home for the holidays and a 3-year-old boy with burns on his legs.

The boy, Isaiah Fernandez, was taken to the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children with first- and second-degree burns over 20 percent of his body.

Three adults who lived in the home escaped with no injuries. The fire burned throughout the house, causing about $250,000 in damage.

Firefighters responded to an 8:58 a.m. call about a house fire at 91-1323 Maliko St. in Ewa Beach. Fire investigators believe the flames started from the first-floor bedroom.

Thirty-five firefighters responded, bringing the fire under control by 9:13 a.m. However, the home smoldered through the late morning.

Lei Fernandez, Isaiah's grandmother and a school bus driver, said she was at work having a Christmas breakfast with other bus drivers. When she got the call that her home was on fire, she needed a ride, and one of the drivers used a bus to drop her home.

"I said, 'Follow the firetruck!'" Fernandez said.

Fernandez spoke with Isaiah's mother, Shelley, her daughter, who said Isaiah was recovering. Fernandez lives with her son Douglas, Shelley and Douglas' girlfriend.

"I'm just glad everyone is still alive," she said, looking back at her home of 20 years.

Next-door neighbor Debra Verdadero made the emergency call when she smelled smoke and heard Isaiah crying.

"I got the garden hose and started spraying, but I think it only got worse," Verdadero said.

Fernandez and the rest will be spending the holidays in Waipahu with her other daughter. The American Red Cross offered assistance in purchasing food and clothing.

The cause of the fire is not yet known. Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig said smoke alarms alerted the residents to the fire. He said the incidents illustrates the importance of properly installed and maintained smoke alarms in preventing fire fatalities.