One Dead in Honolulu Home Blast

Honolulu firefighters found the body of a man burned beyond recognition in an Ewa Beach home, and police are searching for the victim's stepson. Units were dispatched to the home on Kilipoe Street shortly after 10 a.m. on Thursday Neighbors said they heard what sounded like an explosion or several explosions before seeing smoke. They also said that they saw someone drive away just before the fire could be seen Robert Ramos' wife only learned about the fatal fire at the scene. A Board of Water Supply crew working around the corner was the first to notice the fire. "We went over there -- tried to put out the fire, you know, try help put out the fire with the hose pipe -- just shoot the water," BWS worker Jerome Watanabe said. Neighbors said they heard what sounded like an explosion or several explosions before seeing smoke. They ran to help put out the fire knowing someone may be inside. "We went through the back and all the smoke was just coming out the windows. We was breaking the glass, the jalousies, for let the smoke out and then some of the jealousies we was shooting water on the thing was like cracking. So, was pretty hot in there," neighbor Chase Duvauchelle said. "Our investigation is centering on the back bedroom, where the fire possibly started. We don't have any information on the body that we found in there," Honolulu Fire Department Capt. Frank Johnson said. Neighbors described Ramos as a quiet man who ran his own construction company. He moved from Oregon about a year ago to help care for his ailing mother. He was also the father to three stepsons and a hanai (unofficially adopted) daughter. Friends of the family said Ramos had a difficult relationship with the youngest stepson. "I heard like a loud 'bang' and then ruckus after that in the kitchen. And then I heard like dragging from the kitchen into the back room. That's where Bob lives. I heard like another small boom and then I didn't hear nothing after that. And then my father-in-law was outside here and he told me that Bob's son sped away with his bike," neighbor Dean Nishimura said.