PHOTOS: Two people died in an early morning structure fire Saturday (Nov. 29) at a former poi factory in Hilo. Their identities have not yet been released. Each victim was found in a different location within the former Puʻuʻeo Poi Factory at 265 Kekūanāoʻa St., which is now a multi-family apartment building. Their bodies were removed by body recovery teams.
Another person — who survived the blaze — was also found and rescued from inside. A total of 28 residents who called the former poi factory home — most able to get out of the engulfed building on their own — were displaced and are being assisted by the American Red Cross of Hawai’i.
All residents were accounted for; fortunately, no other injuries were reported. Hawaiʻi Fire Department received a call at 3:59 a.m. Saturday about a fire and people trapped inside at the former Puʻuʻeo Poi Factory. The first unit arrived at 4:03 a.m. and found the two-story, 1,400-square-foot structure mostly involved with fire, with visible flames coming from all four sides of the now apartment building.
