Residents did not hear alarms during Honolulu fire
HONOLULU — As flames raged through a Honolulu high-rise building, killing three people and injuring a dozen others, fellow residents didn’t even realize a blaze had broken out until they opened their doors or saw firefighters racing to battle the inferno.
There were no building fire alarm sirens in the units at the Marco Polo high-rise apartment building where the blaze broke out, several residents told The Associated Press.
Britt Reller was in the shower when the fire started and didn’t realize the building was ablaze until smoke began billowing through his apartment, his brother told a Honolulu newspaper. He rushed out to try to save his 85-year-old mother, but he couldn’t reach her and sought refuge from the smoke and flames under a bed.
His brother, a local pastor, was on the phone with Reller at the time. He never heard from him again, and police later told him that both Reller and his mother, Melba Jeannine Dilley, were among those killed.
Fire officials have not released any information about a possible cause for the blaze. A fire department spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for additional information on Sunday.
“It didn’t sound quite like a normal traditional fire alarm,” said Air Force cyber technician Cory La Roe, who didn’t know the building had no sprinklers when he moved in during May.
Laroe said there were no announcements or flashing lights when the fire broke out.
“I just heard a loud ringing, which is what caused me to look outside. I actually thought it was something from the street that was making the noise. After I saw people running out and went out the hallway myself, that’s when I knew it was a fire alarm going off.”