A three-alarm fire broke out in Makiki on Sunday at an elementary school and church while members attended a potluck event.
The Honolulu Fire Department scrambled multiple units in responding to the second school fire in a week.
The building that caught on fire houses the Hawaiian Mission Academy. It is a school during the week and a Seventh Day Adventist Church on Saturdays. The church was holding a potluck when they noticed smoke.
"It looked like it started in the ceiling area. It was just white smoke. We were in the back having a potluck. I think kids were supposed to be here, but everyone got out. The fire department responded very quickly," church member Simpson Tsang said. "It got a little chaotic but we just made sure everyone was accounted for and everyone got away fine."
The fire department called three alarms. More and more fire engines kept arriving even 20 minutes after the first alarm.
There were fire trucks and emergency vehicles all over the place at what could be considered a small fire. One fire captain told KITV that there were 16 companies dispatched.
It raises the question: Did the Honolulu Fire Department call out so many trucks because of the recent fire that raged for hours at the University of Hawaii Lab School?
Sunday's fire was nowhere near as bad as the one at UH Lab School. An HFD spokesman said calling in the extra equipment was wise because the first firefighters at the scene couldn't find the source of the fire.
"The radio transmissions were that they were trying to make headway and there was a lot of smoke so they couldn't find the seat of the fire," Capt. Jerry Spencer said.
The cause is under investigation. Firefighters won't speculate on the fact that there have been two school fires within about a mile of each other in less than a week.
"We have to take each fire separately until fire investigators make the determination," Spencer said.
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