An alert neighbor saved several residents of a two-family Makiki home that was severely damaged in a pre-dawn fire today.

Richard 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 woke up and evacuated the 22-year-old disabled man whom the couple cares for. 

Tanuvasa said the smoke alarm was going off but it was the doorbell that woke him up. The neighbor was a woman from across the street but Tanuvasa does 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 burned-out home.

In all, 10 people were displaced by the fire, including a son of Tanuvasa's who was not home at the time, and two men who live in the upstairs unit. The American Red Cross was called to help the residents, who are 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 by 6:51 a.m., said Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Debbi Eleneki.

She said the cause was under investigation. 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 extinguish the blaze, Eleneki said.

Damage was estimated at $200,000 to the structure and $25,000 to the contents.

Tanuvasa said he believes it started in the living room, but he is unsure how. He expressed 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 an another floor added in the 1950s. The house has four bedrooms on the ground floor and two bedrooms upstairs, he said.

Tanuvasa said that caring for the disabled man was how the couple earned a living. “;It's going to be hard to start over ... I don't know what's going to happen.”;

The couple also do videography and much of their equipment was destroyed.

“;I was tempted to go in and save it (during the fire) ... but I wasn't foolish enough to do that,”; he said.