Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL HomeSt. Louis Heights home destroyed by fire
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Tom Haar
Capt. Terry Seelig
By Lisa Kubota - bio | email
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Thick black smoke pouring out of the home could be seen from miles away.
"I came up and flames were shooting up" said neighbor Tom Haar.
The emergency call came in around 6:30 Wednesday morning. When firefighters arrived the 1,200 square-foot house on Bertram Street was engulfed in flames.
"They were shooting it down with hoses, but still flames were coming up."
Authorities say a 64-year-old woman and her 35-year-old son escaped from the home. Both were treated for smoke inhalation. Paramedics transported the woman to a hospital for minor burns on her back.
"It was fortunate that they did notice the fire and get out safely, but if they had had a smoke alarm, they would have been notified of the fire much sooner" said Capt. Terry Seelig of the Honolulu Fire Department.
A firefighter was taken to a hospital for heat exhaustion. It took crews about 40 minutes to get the fire under control. Officials say the older style aluminum roof held the heat in. There were also concerns that ammunition kept in the home could go off.
"So we basically used master streams from the outside to control the fire until we could cool it off to the point where we could methodically go in and complete extinguishment" said Seelig.
Firefighters managed to save a pet dog, but the flames destroyed the home. The Red Cross is now assisting the family.
"The house was rather not well kept. It was an older house and looked like, in the back of my head, when are they gonna demolish it?" said Haar.
Copyright 2009 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
Photo source: Riley Murakami
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