Police arrested a man and opened an attempted-murder case after six people were injured, none seriously, in an early-morning fire yesterday at a Chinatown high-rise apartment building.

Residents of Kukui Tower, a 33-story building at Nu'uanu Avenue and Kukui Street, evacuated from the building. The fire was confined to an apartment on the 26th floor. The hallway sprinkler system helped contain the fire, fire Capt. Terry Seelig said.

Police believe the fire was deliberately set and arrested a 37-year-old man at 6:45 a.m. on suspicion of attempted murder.

Police at the scene were told the suspect poured gasoline on the apartment floor and ignited it. The fire was reported at 5:20 a.m.

"The first company found smoke and the sprinkler system activated on the 26th floor," Seelig said. Residents "self-evacuated when the fire alarm went off," he said.

Seelig said firefighters had to force their way into the burning apartment.

Bryan Cheplic, spokesman for the city Emergency Services Department, said city paramedics treated six people at the scene for smoke inhalation. One of the six was also treated for minor burns. Two of the people were released at the scene, Cheplic said.

Seelig said four people were taken to Straub Clinic and Hospital.

Seelig said the fire was confined to the unit that burned, identified by police as apartment 2609.

Four occupants of the apartment sought refuge in the back bedrooms "until we could get there and rescue them," Seelig said.

The apartment was heavily filled with smoke and sustained $60,000 in heat and smoke damage to its structure and another $10,000 to its contents, Seelig said.

There was also water damage to the building's elevator system, he said, but no dollar estimate.

Lam Kim, who lives on the floor where the fire occurred, said she was already awake when she heard "yelling and screaming" and "thought it might be homeless people."

Then she heard the fire alarm.

She opened the door, but the smoke was too thick to go out. She said she called 911 and was told to put a wet towel on her head.

She waited for 15 minutes before a police officer came to her door.

"I just be patient and pray," she said, standing across the street in her bare feet and wearing a blanket given to her by city paramedics.

She said her apartment floor was covered by ankle-deep water.

Red Cross workers were at the scene assisting residents of the 26th floor who were displaced by the fire, Seelig said.

Janice Lee, who lives on the 23rd floor, said she could smell smoke when she, her husband and her mother-in-law entered the hallway.

"We could also hear someone screaming for help from one of the floors above us," Lee said.

Lee, a state worker, said she has lived in the building for 10 years, but never experienced a fire in that time.

She said the building is home primarily to working-class families, many of them recent arrivals from China, Korea and other countries.

As residents left the building, they gathered on the opposite side of Kukui Street, some of them still in pajamas.

Many of them worked their cell phones, while families gathered in small clusters, speaking rapidly to each other in Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese.