Honolulu Fire Department investigators have determined that Saturday’s fire at the Palehua Gardens townhouse complex in Makakilo was deliberately set.
No one was injured in the blaze, which neighbors said was set by a resident just minutes after a violent confrontation with his wife.
The fire, which consumed the end unit of four conjoined duplex townhouses, was reported at 9:40 p.m. Firefighters brought it under control at 9:53 p.m. and extinguished it by 10:26 p.m.
Damage was estimated at $130,000 to the structure and $20,000 to its contents.
HFD spokesman Capt. James Todd said the fire is believed to have been started in a downstairs bedroom.
Police said Sunday evening they were awaiting final paperwork from HFD to initiate their own arson investigation and that no arrests had been made.
Robert Bishop, who lives next door to the unit, said he heard a woman screaming from the street about 9:30 p.m. Saturday. When he went to investigate, he found his neighbor — an man known around the complex as "T" — outside on the sidewalk hitting his wife. Two of the couple’s three young children were screaming and crying nearby, Bishop said.
Bishop said he intervened and brought the man back to the complex.
Bishop’s wife, Ramona, followed the woman and two children down the hill on Makakilo Drive in her car and drove them to Waipahu, to the home of a relative of the woman. The couple’s third child was apparently with other relatives and was not at the complex, Ramona Bishop said.
Shortly after the husband returned to his unit, residents said, they heard a loud noise similar to an explosion from the downstairs area.
"It wasn’t a bang or shot," said one neighbor. "It was a low boom and it shook the entire complex. It was like a car had crashed into one of the houses."
Soon after, neighbors saw smoke and flames emanating from the unit and quickly mobilized with hoses and fire extinguishers to keep the fire from spreading.
As they fought the fire, 17-year-old Lavandor Manning, who lives across the street, witnessed the husband walking down Makakilo Drive, stopping briefly to talk to someone at a bus stop.
Robert Bishop said the couple had moved into the rental unit less than a year ago but was well known for their domestic disturbances.
"The husband didn’t work," he said. "All he did all day was blast his music and scream at the kids all day. You could hear (the children) crying all the time. People would call the police when they heard him beating the kids or beating his wife."
Ramona Bishop said the husband had come to her door a couple of hours prior to the fire asking to use her phone.
"He reeked of alcohol," she said.
The Bishops said they were worried about what might happen if and when the husband returns to the complex.
