KAPALUA - Someone may have set the fire that destroyed a multimillion-dollar home Saturday evening in a gated Kapalua community. Damage was estimated Sunday at up to $10 million by the owner, although the Maui Fire Department did not have an estimate.
Police have opened an investigation, saying the cause of the fire was suspicious. Realtor Greg Brown of Brown Development, the owner of the home and property at 226 Keowa St., estimated his losses at around $10 million.
Brown was vacationing in Colorado with his children, and his fiancee, Julie Mitchell, at the time of the fire. Brown wrote in an e-mail to The Maui News that he plans to return to the island earlier than he had anticipated.
He said the house was 14,000 square feet with six bedrooms, a theater, a game room and a five-car garage.
"Julie and I are in shock and feel very helpless being so far away," Brown wrote.
"We are so very grateful for all our friends and family who have done so much to help in our absence," he added. "We have been overwhelmed with love and support!"
Brown and Mitchell announced plans in February to establish on the property a nonprofit - to be called Farmer Brown - whose mission would be to educate and expose children to horses and other farm animals while also providing free equine therapy to disabled children.
Brown said his may be the only property in the Honolua Ridge Subdivision above the Plantation Estates Golf Course that chooses to do agriculture on the land.
Fire Capt. Val Martin said an unusually large number of companies responded to the fire: Engine 11 from Napili, Engine 3 and Ladder 3 from Lahaina, Rescue 10 and Engine 10 from Kahului, Engine 6 from Kahului, Hazmat 10, plus two fire inspectors and Maui police. The fire was under control around 10 p.m. and extinguished by 12:48 a.m.
Brown and Mitchell hosted 33 preschoolers from Sacred Hearts School and a class of children with special needs from Kamehameha III Elementary in separate field trips earlier this year at their property.
The farm's livestock includes five horses, seven sheep, four cows, seven pigs, 60 chickens and three goats, plus several barn cats and dogs. In February, Brown said the sheep, cows and pigs were all being bred.
"Our animals are all OK," Brown wrote in e-mail Sunday. He said most of the livestock were in Launiupoko grazing at the time of the fire.
He said he still plans to go forward with his nonprofit Farmer Brown endeavor.
Mitchell, meanwhile, is in the process of completing her certification for equine therapy for children.
Rick Hilliard, who owns adjoining property to Brown, said police interviewed him Saturday night while the fire was still raging. Hilliard said he left his home shortly after 2 p.m. Saturday and did not return until approximately 7:30 p.m., when he saw the flames. "I was pretty convinced it was my property," Hilliard said.
As he drove closer, another neighbor told Hilliard that the house on fire was Brown's. Hilliard said he was aware that Brown was off-island and had noticed no activity on the property for the last two weeks.
"It was quiet," Hilliard said.
Hilliard said he was impressed by the work of the responding Maui firefighters and their presence throughout the night on the property. "These guys did an amazing job," Hilliard said.
Hilliard said Saturday night's fire was huge in comparison with some he had seen when he lived in Southern California. "The fire was incredible. It was intense . . . it's the most I've ever seen in flames."
Martin said that if damages do reach $10 million, it could be the most expensive residential fire in Maui County in years, if not in all history. A fire at a house under renovation in Keawakapu in October caused an estimated $6 million in damage to the building its contents.
* Claudine San Nicolas can be reached at claudine@mauinews.com.
