The investigation of the Kaimuki house fire that killed a mother and her baby continued Thursday after the Honolulu Fire Department discovered three 20-pound, barbecue-type propane tanks in the carport.

“It is still part of the investigation, and it still hasn’t been confirmed or ruled out that they were the cause of the fire,” HFD spokesman Capt. Scot Seguirant said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, he said Thursday night.

Firefighters on Wednesday morning discovered the bodies of Connie Moribe Wharton, 33, in the carport and 9-month-old Sophia in the living room of their home at 733-A Luakaha St.

Honolulu Police Lt. Nathan Wharton, the husband and father of the victims, was not home at the time of the fire.

Glen and Sandy Moribe, grief-stricken after the loss of both their daughter and granddaughter, declined an interview Thursday.

“It’s still too fresh,” Glen Moribe said. “We never imagined we’d have to bury our own child.”

A neighbor who lives across the street from the house said she heard a loud explosion followed by red flames shooting straight up. Another neighbor heard it at about 8 a.m.

The priest at the Cathedral of St. Andrew’s sent a message to parishioners that the baby who died in Wednesday’s fire was baptized at the Episcopal church in March.

The Rev. Moki Hino said they were the daughter and granddaughter of church members Glen and Sandy Moribe.

“I have a simple request, that upon receiving this message, will you please stop for a moment, say a prayer for Sophia and Connie, and send warm thoughts for peace to Sandy, Glen, and their son-in-law Nathan,” he wrote.

Connie Wharton was a counselor at The Queen’s Medical Center, according to her LinkedIn account. Her Facebook page says she attended St. Andrew’s Priory and Eastern Washington University.

Neighbor Chad Fukumoto, 35, said that it was during Wharton’s nightly walks with the family’s two dogs, Keiko and Sasha, that he and his wife got to know her.

“Just heartbreaking,” he said. “We knew them pretty well.”

The Fukumotos were about the same age as their 33-year-old neighbor and also have just one daughter.

“That’s why it was so sad,” he said.

Their conversations were just about life, he said.

The Whartons’ Shiba Inu, Keiko, died in the fire, Fukumoto said.

Aside from the explosion, one neighbor heard popping sounds he thought was stored ammunition triggered by the fire.

The fire was under control by 8:25 a.m. and extinguished by 9 a.m. A neighboring structure and two vehicles were also damaged in the fire, HFD said.

Had the wind been blowing toward her house as it typically does, the fire could have easily destroyed the home in front of the Whartons’ house, the neighbor who lives across the street said.

The wind shifted briefly toward her house, and it quickly filled the living room with black smoke but then resumed blowing in the Ewa direction.