Fire tore through a single-family Enchanted Lake home yesterday while the owners were on vacation and damaged a neighboring home.

Mark Brislin, son of the homeowners, said the electrical appliances were off when he left for a 15-minute trip to the grocery store shortly before 5 p.m.

"I was driving, and I saw smoke pouring into the sky and I’m like, somebody’s house might be on fire," he said. "I was driving home, and I was like, ‘Wow, that might be my house’ and I got there and it was my house."

"Flames pouring out of it," he said.

The fire was reported at 4:53 p.m., and the four-bedroom, single-story wooden home was already engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, said Honolulu fire Capt. Rick Karasaki.

Four fire companies brought the fire, at 640 Palawiki St., under control within 18 minutes of the alarm. Police closed the road for several hours as firefighters put out hot spots.

"This was a total loss," Karasaki said.

A fire investigator was searching for a cause and a damage estimate. Karasaki said the fire appeared to have started in the garage. No one was home at the time, and no one was injured.

During the fire an arcing electrical line in front of the house threatened firefighters until the electric company could turn off the power. A water main also broke nearby on Wanaao Road, forcing police to close the road, but the break did not affect firefighters, Karasaki said.

Neighbors said the homeowners were away on a cruise and that their son was staying at the home.

Next-door neighbor Emma Thomas first noticed what smelled like someone getting ready to turn on a grill and suddenly saw flames coming from the garage.

The heat melted the tail lights and bumper on her Buick SUV, which was parked about 40 feet away from the burned home. The fire also damaged the roof of her home. As neighbors tried to put out the flames with garden hoses, Thomas scrambled to get her 8-year-old granddaughter, two dogs and cat to safety.

Her granddaughter was cowering in the garage next to the SUV, frightened by the flames.

"I had to pull her out," Thomas said. "I turned her over to the neighbors."

"I don’t know what happened to my cat," she added.

The fire also destroyed a blue Nissan Versa that the homeowners just bought a month ago, said Doug Borton, who lives to the right of the burned home.

He tried to save his neighbors’ car by spraying it with a garden hose while crouching behind the fence to avoid aerosol cans, shot out by the fire. The blaze also caused the cans to explode, sending up plumes of flame.

"I’m amazed at how fast it spread," Borton said. "It made me realize for myself, no sense trying to grab valuables, just grab your family and get out."