Select an option below to continue reading this premium story.
Already a Honolulu Star-Advertiser subscriber? Log in now to continue reading.
Fire investigators have identified the causes of two recent fires that did a combined $950,000 in damage.
Four people were displaced when a blaze destroyed their two-story, six-bedroom home in Kahaluu and caused $450,000 in damage Oct. 12.
Investigators traced the fire to a cigarette butt that had been deposited into a plastic pot on the patio that contained other cigarette butts. According to Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig, the residual heat from the spent cigarette caused the other material to smolder, eventually triggering a fire that spread from the patio to the rest of the home.
One person was home when the fire broke out but was able to escape without injury.
A neighboring house suffered $5,000 in damage caused by the heat from the burning structure.
Investigators also determined that a fire that caused $500,000 in damage to a nail salon at Manoa Marketplace Oct. 14 started when a small gas grill used for cooking ignited acetate fumes in a small kitchen area.
Seelig said an employee of Manoa Nails Salon was transferring acetate from one container to another over a sink while a butane grill was being used nearby.
"The vapors ignited, and the fire advanced quickly because of all the other flammable materials that were stored back there," Seelig said.
He said the grill was being used legally, although its proximity to combustible materials created a potentially dangerous situation.
One person was taken to the hospital with undisclosed injuries as a result of the fire.
A Bank of Hawaii branch directly below the salon suffered damage due to a water pipe that failed during the fire.