A Salt Lake family came home Tuesday night to find firefighters and police in front of their house.
The flames and smoke caused extensive damage.
The good news — no one was injured.
The bad news — the family has to find somewhere else to live, at least for awhile.
It took firefighters only half an hour to put out the fire, but years of saving for Jacqueline Bumanglag’s mom and dad to buy their house on Puuku Makai Drive.
"I kind of feel bad for my parents because this is out of their pocket, hard earned work," said Jacqueline Bumanglag.
The third floor, where Jacqueline, her parents, brother and aunty live is now unlivable, even though the flames only damaged the kitchen, living room, and attic.
"There’s quite a bit of smoke and heat damage throughout other parts," said Honolulu Fire Capt. Terry Seelig.
The fire broke out around 5:15pm.
Sam Gadiano, who rents the second floor, heard the alarm go off.
At first, he thought it was coming from his neighbor’s house, but then he realized it was coming from the floor above.
"I don’t know what to do, I was panicked. When I saw it I know the fire was big already," said Sam Gadiano.
He grabbed a hose, then called 911.
"And then they didn’t understand me because I was nervous I was trying to kill the fire," said Sam Gadiano.
Firefighters could see the smoke from a quarter mile away.
"When they were responding on Radford they saw the smoke and called in a second alarm," said Capt. Terry Seelig.
Sam is he glad came home when he did, just minutes before the alarm went off.
"Good thing there was some neighbors helping me to kill the fire," said Sam Gadiano.
By the time Jacqueline got home, the fire was already out.
She says none of her family members had been home either, and she thinks the last person left about two hours earlier.
"There was a family altar in our living room and they said that may be where it started, from a light or something like that," said Jacqueline Bumanglag.
Recovery will take awhile, and there’s uncertainty.
"Where are we going to go, what’s going to happen, how much it’s going to cost," said Jacqueline Bumanglag.
She’s just thankful though that no one got hurt.
The fire investigator plans to return to the house on Wednesday to try to figure out what exactly caused the fire.
See the original article at: KHON2 Developing Stories
