Smoke Alarm Credited with Alerting Sleeping Residents of Fire

Maui Now graphic.

Maui fire officials say a smoke alarm helped to alert sleeping residents of a home fire in Kahului on Sunday.

The incident was reported at 5:50 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 27, 2016 at a home on Kūhaʻo Street.

Upon arrival at 5:58 a.m. Kahului and Wailuku firefighters saw light smoke coming from the ground floor of the two-story home and found a small shed still smoldering on the outside wall of the home.

Crews extinguished the fire and ventilated the house with fans to remove the smoke.

Maui Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto said everyone was asleep at the time, but one of the male residents was awakened by the sound of blaring smoke alarms. After the man observed smoke in the house he woke everyone up and was able to get them outside safely.

Taomoto said the residents knocked down the flames with a garden hose before firefighters arrived.

Fire investigators could not say what exactly started the fire and classified it as undetermined.

The fire destroyed the shed and damaged a portion of the outside wall of the home.

Damages were estimated at $29,500 to the structure and $500 to its contents. No one was injured during the incident.

“The occupants of the home were very fortunate to have properly working smoke alarms installed. Had there been no working smoke alarms, the outcome could have been much worse,” fire officials said in a department press release.

The National Fire Protection Association strongly recommends smoke alarms to be installed in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of a home.

Maui fire officials say smoke alarms also should be replaced every 10 years, the battery replaced annually, and the alarm should be tested monthly to ensure that they still work properly.