Lit candles left unattended started a dramatic high-rise fire yesterday in Pawa'a that injured five people and rekindled a discussion over whether older buildings should be retrofitted with sprinklers.

The 8:49 a.m. blaze gutted a 25th-floor apartment of the Kapiolani Manor, across from the Don Quijote department store on Makaloa Street.

A 96-year-old woman and a 78-year-old woman were taken to Straub Clinic & Hospital in critical condition and serious condition, respectively, said Bryan Cheplic, city emergency services spokesman. They and three others suffered smoke inhalation.

"The older woman was found unresponsive but was revived after being transported from the burning building," Cheplic said.

Black smoke poured out of the high-rise. A woman waved for help from the balcony of an adjacent apartment while her husband watched from below.

Kapiolani Manor is almost directly across the street from the Pawa'a fire station, and firefighters were on the scene at 8:52 a.m., three minutes after the alarm was received, Fire Capt. Terry Seelig said.

But firefighters had to climb 25 floors with their gear to battle the flames. The fire was declared under control at 9:19 a.m. About 50 firefighters battled the blaze, Seelig said.

LACKING SPRINKLERS

The building is one of about 300 older residential high-rise buildings in Honolulu that do not have sprinkler systems. All were built before a 1975 law required ceiling sprinklers in buildings taller than 75 feet.

"The building doesn't have a sprinkler system, and without one, there's no way to (immediately) contain the fire or to get water on it," Seelig said.

He said the lack of a sprinkler system likely contributed to the extent of the damage caused by the fire.

"A sprinkler system is on duty 24 hours a day, those and smoke alarms. That's why we continue to support retrofitting high-rise buildings," Seelig said.

The state Legislature in recent years has rejected bills — primarily because of cost concerns — that would require sprinkler systems to be installed in older high-rise buildings.

Seelig said the two older women were found in the hallway on the 25th floor not far from the burning apartment. Flames were shooting out from under the apartment door into the hallway, he said.

Candles were left burning in apartment 2509 shortly before the fire broke out, fire officials said. The apartment is occupied by two men, neither of whom was home when the fire started, officials said.

RESIDENTS AFFECTED

Also suffering from smoke inhalation was a 43-year-old woman, who was taken in stable condition to Kuakini Medical Center, Cheplic said.

A man in his late 40s or early 50s who is a maintenance worker at the building and a woman who lives in a seventh-floor apartment were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation but declined to be taken to a hospital, he said.

Building resident Suzi Byrnes was in the shower when the fire broke out.

"I was literally washing my hair when my mother, who's 92, came in and told me we had to get out of the building," Byrnes said.

She said she became separated from her mother while the two were headed down the stairs from their apartment on the 20th floor.

Byrnes said a mix of renters and owner-occupants, many of whom are senior citizens, live in the building.

"It's good for older retired folks since the shopping and everything else is so close," said Byrnes, who has lived in the building for more than 15 years.

"A lot of the people know and look out for each other."

ONE FAMILY DISPLACED

Several of those who left the building to wait out the fire said they were concerned for their neighbors, some of whom are disabled and use wheelchairs.

Marilyn Davis said she left her apartment on the seventh floor after learning of the fire and was waiting on the sidewalk below when smoke drifted over the people she was waiting with.

At that point, her asthma began to act up.

Davis said paramedics gave her oxygen and something for her asthma.

"I'm OK now, thanks to them," Davis said as she peered up toward the building from the sidewalk below after the last of the smoke had blown away.

Red Cross officials said they were providing food and shelter to one family displaced by the fire. Red Cross volunteers responded to the fire and distributed water to residents forced to evacuate the building.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.