A fire broke out in a penthouse unit of a high-rise building near Waikiki early Monday morning, sending light black smoke pouring from the upper floor before dozens of firefighters knocked it down in under 40 minutes. The Honolulu Fire Department responded to the building near 1720 Ala Moana Boulevard around 8:32 a.m., dispatching 11 units and 41 personnel to the scene.
According to Hawaii News Now, the first unit arrived at 8:39 a.m. and found light black smoke coming from the penthouse unit. The fire prompted an immediate second alarm, and firefighters secured water lines before attacking the flames directly in the unit. Crews also established control of the building's lobby and elevators while checking neighboring units and adjacent rooms for signs that the fire had spread from the enclosed balcony, though the report notes that no such extension was found.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control by 8:47 a.m. and fully extinguished it by 9:11 a.m., the outlet reported. EMS evaluated an 81-year-old woman and a 91-year-old man on scene, though both refused transport to a hospital. Three people from a nearby unit evacuated safely on their own. No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire, along with total damage estimates, remains under investigation.
A Building With a Recent History of Upper-Floor Fires
Monday's fire was not the first at this address. The same 17-story complex at 1720 Ala Moana Boulevard experienced a 16th-floor unit fire in February 2025, when an off-duty firefighter living on site started an initial hose attack before 52 Honolulu Fire Department personnel extinguished the blaze. Built in 1961, the complex contains 240 units spread across two residential towers at the western entrance to Waikiki, according to Hawaii Home Listings.
At Monday's scene, firefighters responded to a second alarm, secured lobby access, controlled elevator banks, and checked adjacent units for fire spread. The response also included on-scene EMS evaluations of an 81-year-old woman and a 91-year-old man, both of whom declined transport.
Why This Tower Has No Sprinklers
Mandatory fire sprinkler requirements for high-rise buildings in Honolulu did not take effect until 1975, meaning the complex at 1720 Ala Moana Boulevard, built in 1961, predates that requirement, as reported by Civil Beat. That gap became a citywide concern after the July 2017 Marco Polo high-rise fire in Honolulu killed four people and caused more than $100 million in damage, prompting the city to enact Ordinances 18-14 and 19-4 compelling pre-1975 high-rises to undergo safety retrofits.
Following citywide mandated inspections after that fire, the fire department reported to the City Council in 2022 that of 302 pre-1975 residential high-rises evaluated on Oahu, only 21 received passing Life Safety Evaluation scores, according to Hawaii Business Magazine. Under Honolulu Ordinance 22-02, buildings that received unacceptable scores have until May 3, 2030, to complete required safety upgrades, or must commit to installing full automatic sprinkler systems by May 3, 2038, according to Hawaii Business Magazine.
Retrofit Costs Collide With Building's Finances
Those upgrades don't come cheap. The post-fire sprinkler retrofit of the 36-story Marco Polo condo exceeded $6 million, Hawaii Business Magazine notes, a figure that illustrates the financial tension condo associations face as compliance deadlines approach. Tradewinds Hotel Inc., the entity behind 1720 Ala Moana Boulevard, operates as a leasehold co-op with a land lease expiring in 2040, a structure that complicates traditional mortgage financing and leads to high carrying costs alongside cash-heavy real estate sales, according to Locations Hawaii.
Monday's fire adds another data point to the challenges of maintaining Waikiki's aging residential towers. As the city's 2030 and 2038 compliance deadlines loom, the recurring emergencies at legacy buildings like 1720 Ala Moana Boulevard continue to test the balance between resident safety and the steep cost of retrofitting decades-old towers.
