At around 6: 30 a. m. ET, the kind of hour when most streets are still quiet, another fire call pulled Honolulu firefighters toward Aina Haina—back to the same property tied to earlier flames. In the latest footage described by Hawaii News Now, a man stands amid heat and smoke, moving rubble and pushing boards along the side of a burned home as the fire burns nearby.
What happened at the Lawelawe Street property?
A home blaze was extinguished early in the morning near Lawelawe Street and Hind Iuka Drive in Aina Haina. Ten units with 38 personnel responded after the Honolulu Fire Department received a 911 call at about 6: 30 a. m. ET. Firefighters initiated a defensive fire attack, brought the fire under control at 6: 42 a. m. ET, and fully extinguished it at 6: 55 a. m. ET.
The location had already been the site of a previous fire over the summer. In late August, firefighters responded to an early morning fire at a single-story home at 668 Lawelawe St. in Aina Haina, and that fire spread to the home next door.
An investigation is underway to determine the latest fire’s origin and cause, along with estimated damages.
How did the video and the arrest shape the latest turn in the story?
Video obtained by Hawaii News Now shows a man in the midst of the flames, lifting large pieces from rubble and then pulling off and pushing boards on the side of the house. The man, Somsack Phanthavong, is 51 years old.
Phanthavong was taken into custody after Monday’s fire on Lawelawe Street in Aina Haina. He was charged with failure to control widely dangerous means, a misdemeanor offense. A judge ordered him to return to court on March 31, and he has been released.
The property has been connected to repeated incidents: there was a big fire at the same home in August, and smaller cooking fires since then.
Why neighbors say the repeated fires feel like more than a single incident
In Aina Haina, the official record of response times and extinguishment is only one part of what residents describe as the lived experience of repeated emergencies at the same address. Neighbors say they have raised concerns not just about the fires themselves, but about what they describe as a pattern of tension around the property.
Neighbors say Phanthavong, described by them as a former Navy diver, has been living in a tree house on the property. At a community meeting last September, neighbors vented a litany of concerns about past confrontations with the owner, strange visitors, and erratic behavior.
Those neighbor accounts have become part of the broader reality surrounding the home: a charred site that keeps drawing firefighters back, paired with a neighborhood trying to understand what comes next—especially while investigators work and court proceedings move forward.
For now, the most concrete facts remain anchored to official actions: the Honolulu Fire Department response, the timeline of control and extinguishment, the ongoing investigation into origin and cause, and the misdemeanor charge that followed Monday’s fire, with a court date set for March 31.
