A Makiki couple thanked last night the woman who saved their lives and the lives of their three children from a pre-dawn fire yesterday that destroyed their home.

Richard Tanuvasa and Audrey Lupe paid a visit to their 24-year-old neighbor Antoinette Ferreira-Harrington.

“;We gave her the official big hug and thanked her,”; Tanuvasa said, noting it was a proper thank you compared with an earlier conversation. “;We told her if she waited five minutes later, we probably wouldn't be here. It was that intense.”;

Ferreira-Harrington said she was just getting home from work when she heard smoke detectors going off, smelled faint smoke in the air and spotted the fire in her neighbors' home.

“;My first instinct was to go and wake up the families, get them up and get them out,”; said Ferreira-Harrington, the mother of two girls. “;I'd expect the same for my family.”;

Ferreira-Harrington saved several residents of the two-family Makiki home that was severely damaged yesterday.

  Neighbor Awakes Sleeping Family From House Fire

 

Woman being hailed as a hero said she did what needed to be done. When others were just standing around watching.

[ Watch ]

 

Tanuvasa, 36, said he was awakened by someone frantically ringing his doorbell, and found fire and smoke filling his home at 1430 Victoria St., on the corner of Green Street.

Tanuvasa and his 29-year-old girlfriend rushed their three children out of the house, and Tanuvasa awoke and evacuated the 22-year-old disabled man whom the couple cares for. A fourth child was staying with grandparents.

Yesterday afternoon the couple, before returning to their burned-out home, stopped briefly to thank the woman who saved their lives.

Ferreira-Harrington told them that she saw their couch on fire and that it was going up in flames quickly.

“;A lot of people were out, but nobody did anything,”; she told the Star-Bulletin. “;It's pretty sad what humanity is going to.”;

Tanuvasa said the doorbell woke him. Early yesterday morning Tanuvasa said he knew the neighbor was a woman from across the street but did not know her name.

“;I didn't even get to say thank you. She saved our lives,”; he said as he sat shirtless on the ground outside his charred home.

In all, 10 people were displaced by the fire, including two men who live in an upstairs unit. The American Red Cross was called to help the residents, all renters.

About 30 firefighters from seven companies were called to the blaze at 5:51 a.m., had it under control by 6:17 a.m. and extinguished it by 6:51 a.m., said Fire Capt. Debbi Eleneki.

She said the cause is under investigation. Damage was estimated at $200,000 to the structure and $25,000 to the contents.

Eleneki described the damage as “;significant”; in the downstairs unit and “;severe”; in the upstairs unit. Both units are uninhabitable.

There is a fire hydrant in front of the house, which helped firefighters quickly put out the blaze, Eleneki said.

Tanuvasa said he believes the fire started in the living room, but he is unsure how. He said he was surprised at how quickly the blaze spread.

After getting everybody out, “;I tried to shoot some water on it with a hose, but it had already spread upstairs,”; he said.

Fire Capt. Terry Seelig said the home was originally a 1920s-era cottage that had another floor added in the 1950s. The house has four bedrooms on the ground floor and two bedrooms upstairs, he said.