Members of a neighborhood hula hälau are without their costumes, electronic equipment and hula implements after a fire yesterday gutted a storage shed behind a house at 2303 Palena St. in Kalihi.

The fire, which was reported at 9:21 a.m., did not damage the house on the property or adjoining houses, said fire Capt. Terry Seelig.

"But the memories contained in the shed and the work that went into building the hälau are irreplaceable," Seelig said.

He said Elisapeta Kolone opened her home to hälau members, mostly neighborhood kids, largely to keep them off the streets and out of trouble.

The hula hälau practiced almost every day in Kolone's yard, which is within shouting distance of the Kuhio Park Terrace public housing area.

"We have 22 kids in the hälau — seven boys and the rest girls," Kolone said yesterday after the fire.

Kolone said she has operated the program for about four years.

"We are going to continue; this won't stop us," she said. "I told my sister that after work tomorrow, we're going to go to the store and buy material for costumes and then we're going to cut and sew and paste."

The hälau has never performed in competition, but has performed at countless birthday parties and family gatherings.

It is a way for hälau members, most of whom have little by way of financial resources, to give something back to their families, and they are tremendously proud to be able to do so, Kolone said.

"We are scheduled to perform Friday night and nothing is going to stop us," she said.

When the hälau was formed, it consisted of Kolone's two daughters, then ages 10 and 12, and a handful of their friends.

Today, the members range in age from 12 to 17 and pay nothing to participate. All of the members are Sämoan or part-Sämoan, the majority of them from "the projects," Kolone said.

Her younger sister, who danced professionally on interisland cruise ships, is in charge of the dance instruction.

"We call ourselves 'Aiga 808' because Aiga means family and 808 is the area code for Hawai'i," Kolone said.

The hälau raises money through donations at its various performances. There was enough left over after paying the group's expenses that all of the hälau members got to spend a day at Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park over the summer.

"The kids show up every day after school and some stay all the way till 10 o'clock when their parents come to pick them up.

"They are so appreciative that the children have something to do other than run in the streets," Kolone said.

Seelig said the shed fire was extinguished at 10:05 a.m., although the flames had been snuffed out well before then. About 20 firefighters fought the blaze, he said.

Initial estimates put damage to the shed at $10,000 and to the contents at $20,000.

The cause of the fire had not been determined by late yesterday afternoon.