Three people were pulled from a burning apartment in Honolulu's Punchbowl area late Thursday night after firefighters found them trapped in a back room, with flames feeding off a moped and other belongings that had ignited near the front door.
According to Hawaii News Now, the Honolulu Fire Department received a 911 call at 10:09 p.m. reporting a fire on Auwaiolimu Street. KHON2 gives the address as 275 Auwaiolimu St. The first engine arrived six minutes later, at 10:15 p.m., and crews found smoke pouring from a first-floor unit of the three-story apartment building, according to KHON2.
Flames Traced to a Burning Moped Near the Doorway
Firefighters stretched handlines toward the unit entrance and discovered a moped and other belongings already engulfed near the front door, with the fire having spread into the apartment's interior. Officials had received reports that three people were trapped in a back room of the unit, and crews pushed inside to pull all three occupants to safety.
The blaze was declared under control by 10:27 p.m. and fully extinguished by 10:36 p.m., less than half an hour after the first call came in, the same report notes. Smoke and water damage spread to a neighboring apartment unit, and the American Red Cross was notified to help displaced residents from both units.
Large Response, No Injuries Reported
The Honolulu Fire Department sent 11 units staffed by roughly 40 personnel to the Auwaiolimu Street address, and all personnel were accounted for once the fire was out, with no injuries reported among firefighters. Investigators are now working to pin down where the fire started and what caused it, while also estimating the extent of the damage, per the same account.
A three-alarm blaze tore through a two-story apartment building on Helelua Place in Nanakuli after flames broke out just after 3 p.m. on Oct. 7, 2025, and firefighters brought that fire under control just before 4 p.m., according to KHON2. Nobody was inside that building during the fire, though one neighboring unit sustained damage, and investigators later classified the cause as incendiary, estimating overall losses at $703,758.
No such damage figures have been released yet for the Punchbowl fire, and the cause remains under investigation as fire officials continue working to piece together how the blaze started near the apartment's front entrance.
