Firefighters in Honolulu had a busy Sunday morning as they responded to a building fire in the Kalihi area, resulting in road closures and evacuations. At approximately 9:30 a.m., a fire was reported at a fabric and textile warehouse on Austin Lane, with the Honolulu Fire Department (HFD) arriving at the scene shortly after the call came in. According to KITV, the fire rapidly escalated from a two-alarm to a three-alarm fire.
The blaze, which proved challenging due to a partial roof collapse, required the deployment of two aerial ladder trucks. Crews utilized 80 to 100-foot ladders to spray water from above, while the team also employed thermal imaging drones to locate the highest heat signatures, aiding their firefighting efforts. “They tell us where the highest heat signatures are in the building and that will help our two aerial ladder trucks provide the angle and the location of where they should be shooting their streams,” HFD Public Information Officer Malcolm Medrano told Hawaii News Now.
Evacuations were ordered for nearby residents as smoke filled their homes and apartments. “Oh, scary, cause you get everything in your house, yeah and then all of a sudden, the police come in and says, evacuate, evacuate, you guys gotta get out,” Sundee Amantiad told Hawaii News Now in an interview during the tumultuous event. No injuries were reported, despite some evacuees recalling sounds akin to fireworks from within the building…