Lavina Kekumu rescued David H. M. Wood and Mario H. Kekumu and died attempting to rescue Robert T. H. Soon, Jr., from burning, Nanakuli, Hawaii, October 18, 1988. David, 16; Mario, 6, and Robert, 14, were in a bedroom of their family’s house when f ire broke out in a crawl space beneath the house. Miss Kekumu, 27, student, who was Mario’s aunt and Robert’s half-sister and who also lived in the house, ran to the bedroom from the living room, where she had been watching television with her mother. Despite blistering heat in the vicinity of the bedroom and flames which had by then erupted in that room, Miss Kekumu entered and roused the children. She broke a window, through which she then handed David and Mario out to her stepfather, who had escaped. She turned back from the window for Robert. Arriving firefighters later found Miss Kekumu and Robert in the bedroom. They had both died of smoke inhalation and extensive burns.
63584 – 7345
63584-7345