KAHULUI – A single-story seven-bedroom Kahului residence, home to 11 family members, was gutted by fire Monday morning, with residents forced to flee and a grandmother and a family dog rescued from the backyard.

“I work 14, 15 hours a day. What I have left now?” Leo Magaoay asked his family, which was displaced by the fire.

All that was left of the house were the charred remains of personal belongings and part of the home’s framing. Family members were in tears as firefighters worked to put out the fire.

The home at 403 Kea St. is owned by Abraham and Myrna Taroc and housed six adults and five children. When it caught fire at about 11 a.m., three occupants were inside and a dog was outside, residents said. All escaped safely.

Krishna Taroc, 19, was sleeping in her room when her alarm woke her up to get ready for class at the University of Hawaii Maui College. Smoke from the fire, which she said started in the kitchen area in the front of the house, drove her outside.

“I just woke up and went to the bathroom and suddenly smoke was coming from the window,” Taroc said. “I went outside and I thought I can still put water so the fire would stop, but then I opened the door and suddenly all (the) smoke came in and I can’t breathe, so I ran as fast as I can to go outside.

“The telephone was by the door so I grab it and called 911 as fast as I could.”

By the time others became aware of the fire, the front portion of the home was completely engulfed in flames. Taroc, who escaped with her brother, said their grandmother, Linda Agpaoa, was in the back part of the house.

Agpaoa said she saw the smoke from her room and fled to the backyard, where she was trapped, unable to climb a fence.

“I cannot walk fast, but I tried my best to get out because I could not see anything because of the smoke,” she said. “I was afraid, and then my neighbors came and the police officer came on the other side of the backyard.”

Rusty Iokia, a police investigator with the juvenile division, said he and another officer were in the area and responded to the fire. He said he had to break a wooden fence on the side of the building to save Agpaoa because the front was “totally engulfed in flames.”

“My neighbor, she was yelling at me, ‘Come this side, come this side,’ ” Agpaoa said. “Then, I saw the police and they carry me out to safety.”

Neighbor Kathy Shimada said Agpaoa was yelling “help me, help me” from the backyard and the family’s dog was barking and could not climb over the fence. Worried about her house catching fire, she called her son Arnot Meyer, who ended up rescuing the dog.

Meyer said he was working up the street when he and a co-worker smelled smoke.

“I said, ‘Brah, that’s not Kahului Harbor, that’s down by my house someplace,’ ” Meyer said. “I called my mom to make sure everything was all right, and she told me I gotta come home.

“The flames were easy 50 feet high. It was mean, brah, we were with water hoses and everything, doing what we could do.”

Meyer said there was no damage to his home and thanked the Maui Fire Department for its quick response. Firefighters received the call at 11:16 a.m. and were on the scene at 11:23 a.m., fire officials said.

It was lucky for him that the wind was not blowing toward his house, Meyer said.

“That fire was so intense on our side, I really thought it was going to jump over,” he said.

Keneke Pacheco, who lives on the other side of the burned home with his mother, said his home suffered minor damage. Part of the roof and his grass were charred and a couple of windows were cracked and shattered by the fire.

His mother was inside the house when she smelled smoke, family members said. She made it out safely.

“I’m glad everyone is safe and nobody is hurt,” Pacheco said. “Everything else is replaceable.”

Most of those who lived in the burned home were at work or school when the fire started.

Magaoay said he was working at the airport when he was told about the fire. He came straight home. By the time he arrived, the home was in ruins.

“I almost got into an accident, too,” he said of racing home. “I just bumped my horn, because I like go. I was yelling already and almost got hit. I was running red lights.

“I got here and they said ‘Sir, your house is burning already.’ ”

Magaoay, son-in-law to the owners of the home, has been living in the house since 2006 with his wife, Aileen, and his two children. He said he built three additional bedrooms for other family members about three years ago.

Jewelry, musical instruments, sound systems, photos and many other items were taken by the fire, he said. A motorcycle he bought a couple of weeks ago also was destroyed.

“I didn’t even use it yet,” he said. “I just bought it from a guy for five grand and I just put it there because I don’t have time to ride yet. I bought that for pleasure, and I like to ride during Christmas and other things.”

Magaoay said he had not told his children about the fire Monday afternoon.

“Luckily, they stay at school,” he said. “I don’t know, they gonna get sad. . . . They’ll be sad.”

The American Red Cross was assisting the family Monday afternoon with food, water and clothing. The 11 family members were provided lodging for the next few nights and are seeking long-term housing, officials said.

Magaoay said his family has insurance but did not know how much would be covered.

Structural damage was estimated at $500,000 and damage to contents at $100,000, Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto said. He said damage to Pacheco’s home was estimated at $10,000.

On Monday night, the cause of the fire remained undetermined, he said. Police detectives and a fire investigator were investigating the scene.

Taomoto said six fire units and a battalion chief responded to the fire.

The Tarocs’ home was built in 1961 on 8,884 square feet of land, according to county property tax records.

While Myrna Taroc remained visibly distraught Monday afternoon, she was grateful that her family was uninjured.

“I’m sad, but it was a good thing nobody was hurt,” she said holding back tears. “That’s the main thing.”

* Eileen Chao contributed to the story. Chris Sugidono can be reached at csugidono@mauinews.com.

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