Police officer credited with saving neighbors in Pearl City fire

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A family of four escaped safely from a burning home Wednesday night after a neighbor broke through two locked doors to alert them to the fire.

Read more Billy V Live: Radio personality Kamasami Kong shares whatʻs coming up next for him

Jonathan Frye, a Honolulu police officer and union vice-president, was outside his home when his wife called 911 to report the fire on Auhuhu Street. Frye ran to the neighboring house, where the tenant named Victor and his three children — ages 3, 5 and 9 — were inside unaware of the danger.

“I didn’t hesitate at all. I ran down here,” Frye said in an interview. “Right here is my neighbor’s front door. Pounding on it, knocking on it.”

The front door was locked with a deadbolt and held in place by its frame. Frye attacked it bare-handed and then shouldered open the inside door.

“This door, thankfully, wasn’t too hard for me to break down,” Frye said when asked if he had kicked down doors before. “Quite, quite frequently, yes.”

Fire in back room went unnoticed

Firefighters in 11 units arrived at the scene around 8 p.m. The fire was in a back room on the second floor of the concrete home, which meant the family downstairs did not know the home was burning.

“Everything was upstairs, so Victor had no idea,” Frye said. “Honestly, a few more minutes, and smoke would have been coming down into their unit. They might have been trapped, for all we know.”

Read more Hawaiian monk seal born on Oahu’s east side receives name from 5th-grade class

Jacob Wruck, the homeowner, said Frye downplayed the effort required to break through the doors.

“They always talk about typical people getting bursts of adrenaline, and then, you know, I’m pretty sure that that’s what happened,” Wruck said.

Wruck is a reservist and veteran who is a graduate student studying disaster planning.

Cause and damage

Firefighters determined that a shattered incandescent light bulb sparked the fire. The blaze caused more than $350,000 in damage.

Victor and his three children are doing fine, Wruck said. Frye said he was satisfied with the outcome.

“Just knowing that I was able to make a difference, then get everybody else safely. That’s all I ever wanted, and that’s why I do what I do and why I love what I do,” Frye said.

Read more Kapolei’s community lei stand blooms with local makers — and keiki fundraising