On July 17, 2024, the Honolulu Fire Department (HFD) received a 911 call at 11:07 a.m. and responded to a building fire near 2841 North Nimitz Highway in the airport area with 6 units staffed with 22 personnel. While enroute, the first unit saw smoke from a distance and upgraded the response to a second alarm, requesting more resources.

During the fire attack phase, the incident was upgraded once more to a third alarm emergency adding additional resources. A total of 17 HFD units staffed with 62 personnel, as well as one State of Hawaii Department of Transportation’s Airport Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) truck with five personnel, were involved in the incident.

The first unit arrived on scene at 11:15 a.m. to find a medium-sized, two-story commercial building with heavy black smoke coming from the side of the structure. Fire fighters secured a water supply, started an offensive interior fire attack with multiple handlines, and performed a search for occupants. The search confirmed that no occupant was in the building during the incident. During the interior fire attack, ceilings and walls were breached and exposed to find the seat of the fire. After about 30 minutes, the strategy changed from an offensive attack to a defensive one. The defensive attack consisted of using large-diameter nozzles mounted to aerial ladders producing high-volume fire streams that were aimed through openings in the roof. The State of Hawaii’s ARFF unit provided a 4,500-gallon fire truck with an
articulated boom and piercing nozzle to assist with creating more roof openings in the heavy-timber constructed building. With the collaborative effort, the fire was brought under control and extinguished at 5:30 p.m.

An investigation has been initiated to determine the fire’s origin and cause as well as
provide damage estimates. An update will be sent out once the final investigation report
is complete.