HANAMA‘ULU — A fire in Hanama‘ulu Friday afternoon caused an estimated $1.3 million in structural and content damages.
Hanama‘ulu Trading Company, located at 3-4251 Kuhio Highway, was built in 1896 and was comprised of a main building surrounded by four smaller buildings on the perimeter of the property.
The 116-year-old building was a two-story, wooden structure that was divided primarily into retail and office spaces, housing 10 different businesses including the U.S. Post Office, TJ Variety Store, Amorin’s Barber Hale, Hair Vibrations, Arrangements by MJRM, Joaquina Antiques and the New Beginning Christian Center. There were also two apartments and a smaller retail location on the second floor of the structure.
Four smaller buildings on the perimeter include businesses such as Island Love, Kaua‘i Frame, the Trading Post and LMR Hawai‘i. These buildings sustained fire, water and smoke damage.
Several witnesses, along with chatter on the fire scanner, alluded to issues opening the fire hydrant closest to the fire site.
“All aspects of the fire response will be reviewed,” Kaua‘i Fire Chief Robert Westerman said in an email Saturday. “At this point, we don’t think the cap on the fire hydrant caused any delay since there was still water in the engine.”
The owners of the Hanama’ulu Trading Company lamented the situation.
“By the time we got there, the building was fully engulfed,” said Joaquina Abban, who owns Hanama‘ulu Trading Company and Joaquina Antiques along with her husband, Deane Abban.
Joaquina said she was at home and received a phone call from the owner of the beauty salon about the fire.
“We are insured,” Joaquina said of future plans. “We are working with our insurance agent. We are going to rebuild.”
By late Saturday afternoon, some business owners were still in the area, surveying damages.
“I saw flames coming from the (air conditioning) unit,” said Joshua Ellamar. “The whole church was on fire.”
Ellamar ran to the beauty salon and helped evacuate six or seven people, including a young girl working on a computer in a room adjacent to the church. He then ran to an apartment upstairs and told the female resident to get out.
“We were here the whole time,” Ellamar said. His family just completed renovations on a building in the rear of the retail complex a week ago and had just opened LMR Hawai‘i Friday morning. LMR Hawai‘i was going to sell ‘ukuleles and provide lessons, while also serving as retail storefront for Pueo Breads.
Ellamar was able to quickly remove the most expensive items from his store, which suffered minor fire damage, along with heavy water damage. His father’s truck, which was parked outside of the store, however, suffered substantial heat damage. The business was uninsured.
“We’ll go back to the old ways until we can open another store,” Ellamar said.
While the Island Love clothing store was spared from fire damage, the building suffered heavy smoke damage. One of the owners, Casey Riopta, said it would be Monday before her insurance agent would be able to examine the contents of the store, which contained mostly clothes and softline items.
Sitting at the store with the Riopta family Saturday afternoon was Kevin Roche, a security rep for HI Alarm. Island Love had a unit installed one month ago. Roche said the smoke set off the HI Alarm system and generated a call to 911 to report the fire around 3:38 p.m.
Damage to the structure and contents of the Hanama‘ulu Trading Company is estimated at $1.2 million. The loss to the four other buildings is estimated at a total of $70,000.
No injuries were reported by any of the buildings’ occupants. However, two police officers were treated for smoke inhalation by medics and released at the scene.
The fire began at about 3:19 p.m. Friday afternoon and was under control by 4:28 p.m. It was deemed fully extinguished at approximately 10 p.m. The cause of the fire remains unknown.
“Our firefighters did a tremendous job of containing the fire. With the closeness of the adjacent structures and the high winds, the fire could have easily advanced,” Westerman said in an email. “I want to thank all of the fire department personnel for a job well done.”
Personnel from all the fire stations on the island except for Hanalei, Koloa and Waimea responded to the scene along with the fire chief, Deputy Fire Chief John Blalock, Battalion Chief Sean Hosaka, Rescue 3 and the Fire Prevention Bureau.
Medics, police officers, a Public Works crew, a private contractor and Red Cross volunteers also provided assistance.
Officers closed Kuhio Highway between Hanama‘ulu Road and Laulima Street.
Traffic was diverted through the residential area. The highway was reopened at approximately 10 p.m.
Hanama‘ulu Post Office customers can receive their mail at the Lihu‘e Post Office.
Historical building lost to the ages
Built in 1896, the Hanamaulu Trading Company building was a two-story structure with several smaller buildings on the edges of the property
“It was the Lihu‘e Plantation Company Store,” Joaquina Abban said, recalling the original wooden floor and beams. “Part of the front was rebuilt after Hurricane ‘Iniki.”
She said the building where Island Love and Kaua‘i Frame is located once housed the Dispensary and Field Office for the Lihu‘e Plantation.
Abban said her husband, Deane, started Hanama‘ulu Store in 1968 and operated it until 1985, when he closed the store and started the trading company to manage the commercial property.
One neighbor recalled the building being filled with old photos of the building from years long past. Another recalled the floor beams moving underfoot when walked on.
Joaquina Antiques contained lots of Hawaiian artifacts and one of a kind antiques.
“We had lots of old documents, including deeds written in the Hawaiian language,” said Abban. She said they were able to recover some old records from the safes that were pulled from the structure after the fire.
Abban said she and her husband are “thinking for the future” and making plans to rebuild.
• Laurie Cicotello, business writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 257) or business@thegardenisland.com
