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Two women, three children escape apartment fire

By Chris Sugidono 6 min read

HAPPY VALLEY -- All Kamalei Luna could think of Monday morning was to grab her two children and niece and run out of her mother's burning apartment unit.

"All I saw was black smoke and the girls were screaming," Luna said outside the state affordable housing apartment complex on Piihana Road. "That's all I remember and just grabbing them out. It happened in a second."

Luna, the three young children and her mother, Stacey, escaped out the front door around 8:30 a.m. The fire originated from the stove in the kitchen at the back of the two-story unit at the Hawaii Public Housing Authority's Kahekili Terrace, the family said.

"It was really thick and hard to breathe," Kamalei Luna said of the smoke. "It was just a really scary situation. I couldn't even think. All I could think about were the kids."

Five people were in the apartment when the fire erupted, said Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto. Kamalei and Stacey Luna and a 1-year-old boy were asleep in the upstairs bedrooms while two 3-year-old girls were downstairs playing in the living room/kitchen area.

After the smoke alarm activated, the children saw the fire in the kitchen and one of them went upstairs to wake the adults. Everyone was able to evacuate the home without injury, he said.

Stacey Luna lives in the three-bedroom unit with her two younger children, an 11-year-old boy and 14-year-old girl, Taomoto said. They were all displaced by the fire. The two children were at school when the fire occurred.

Kamalei Luna and the three children were visiting the apartment, he said.

Firefighters arrived on the scene at 8:37 a.m. with flames and heavy black smoke coming from the first- and second-floor windows and brought the fire under control about 15 minutes later, Taomoto said. He said that the fire in the 800-square-foot unit was extinguished just before 10 a.m.

The cause of the fire was accidental and attributed to unattended food on the stove, Taomoto said. He said later that the fire started in the kitchen and was related to children playing in the kitchen.

Estimated damage was $160,000 to the structure and $30,000 to its contents, he said. The first floor was damaged mostly by flames and the second floor by smoke and heat.

"They might be able to save some stuff (from the second floor), but it's going to have heavy smoke damage," he said.

No injuries were reported in the fire, and neighboring apartments in the 82-unit complex were not damaged.

Stacey Luna had been sleeping upstairs when she heard the fire alarm go off and her grandchildren screaming. She said she usually babysits her daughter's children but was sleeping after working a graveyard shift.

"I didn't even go back in to try to put it out," she said after escaping the blaze. "The fire was that big. It wasn't worth it. That's all material stuff.

"By the time I grabbed the extinguisher and put it out, it came back alive. So I was like OK I'm out."

Her condiments, containers and other parts of the kitchen were melting from the heat. She had no idea how the fire started, but believed it may have spread to her upstairs bedroom.

"It looks like it because it's all black on the top," she said, pointing to the exterior of the building.

The entire family ran out without putting on slippers or carrying any belongings. They had no idea if anything in the house was salvageable, but it appeared from afar that the entire first floor of the unit was blackened by the fire.

"It's probably dust," Kamalei Luna said.

A handful of police cars and fire engines, as well as nearly a dozen firefighters, responded to the scene. A few other tenants in the complex were evacuated.

Mika Fanua, who was with his girlfriend and child next door, said that he went to throw something away outside and saw the smoke coming from the unit. He could hear the children screaming.

His girlfriend called 911, Fanua said.

"At first, I smelled it and thought somebody had burned food or something," he said. "After I walked out and saw the smoke and flames I was like, 'Oh no, let's get out of here now.'

"When we came out, we could feel the heat coming from next door."

Fanua said that he saw a police officer run in to try to put the fire out and check for anyone else but came out shortly after.

"There was too much smoke. He came outside and started coughing really bad," he said.

Stacey Luna said she has been living in her unit for six years. She said managers of the property have put her in an apartment building next door and have allowed her to stay for a while.

The Hawaii Public Housing Authority is listed as the owners of the apartment complex, according to property tax records. The state agency assists residents with affordable housing and shelter.

An agency official confirmed that the family has been moved to another unit in the complex. The complex has four buildings and 82 units.

"It's a very unfortunate situation so close to the holiday, but the main thing is she's not hurt and has someplace to stay," said the official, who declined to give his name. "We'll make sure her family is OK. The unit will have to be fixed, but I won't know what the damages are until I see the report from Maui fire."

Volunteers with the American Red Cross responded to the fire and assisted the family with immediate emergency needs for food, shelter and clothing, the agency said in a news release. Caseworkers plan to follow up with those affected in the coming weeks to provide referrals, guidance or additional assistance.

The nearby Living Way Church also opened its doors and offered support to the family.

Taomoto said that the fire showed the importance of smoke alarms, which alerted the family to the fire. He said flames were shooting out the windows on the first floor and were spreading quickly.

"The family is very lucky to have escaped unharmed, and it was probably due to the unit having a working smoke alarm," he said. "Having that made a difference of making it out versus something that could've turned out otherwise."

Fanua expressed his sympathy for the family, especially with Thanksgiving approaching.

"We know the family, and it must be terrible," he said. "It's sad. We plan to try to do something for them in the next couple weeks because the holidays are coming around the corner.

"That's just bad. At least we can try to reach out and do our part to help them."

* Chris Sugidono can be reached at csugidono@mauinews.com.

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