Nearly five months after a fire ravaged multiple buildings in downtown Hilo, the cause is still unknown, but the investigation into the incident has been closed by the Hawaii Fire Department.
According to a copy of the investigation report obtained by the Tribune-Herald, “due to the severity of fire damage and lack of recoverable physical evidence, no specific ignition source could be identified or conclusively linked to the fire’s origin.”
While scorched remnants remain visible at the site of the fire on the corner of Kinoole and Haili streets, recovery efforts to support those impacted by the blaze are underway.
Following a request from Gov. Josh Green earlier this month, the U.S. Small Business Administration issued a disaster declaration in response to the fire, unlocking access to low interest federal economic injury disaster loans for affected businesses and other eligible organizations.
“I’s not just businesses, it’s also private nonprofits,” said Natalie Butz, a public affairs specialist for SBA. “For instance, churches, schools — those are also eligible for the economic injury disaster loans, just at a different interest rate.”
The loans can be up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4% for businesses and 3.625% for private nonprofits, according to SBA.
Butz and fellow public affairs specialist Raenada Mason arrived in Hilo last week to visit the site of the fire, reach out to businesses, raise awareness about the loans, and help set up a business recovery center in town.
In addition to checking in on the businesses that were physically located in the damaged buildings, they said they are also trying to reach others who may have been affected by the fire in less obvious ways.
“Whether or not they actually sustained physical damages as a result of the disaster, if they sustained economic injury, like a disruption in supply chain, unable to meet payroll or other types of normal business expenses that they would have been able to meet were it not for a disaster like this,” Butz said. “That is the kind of working capital disaster loan that SBA can provide to those businesses to get them back on their feet and get them running again.”
One of the businesses displaced by the fire, Olena’s Massage Center, was already able to relocate and reopen within just five weeks of the fire — a feat which owner Olena Adams credits to the support of the Hilo community.
“Help was coming from everywhere,” she said. “It’s amazing, it’s a blessing to be on this island, you know, it’s Hawaii, it’s what Hawaii is about: absolute and total aloha.”
She said that in the days following the fire, community members helped her and her partners salvage what they could from the site of the building. Several people offered to donate massage tables, and the building’s landlord returned part of the previous month’s rent in the form of Target gift cards to put toward supplies.
When Adams and her teamstarted looking for a new site, the Hilo Elks Lodge expedited the process to rent a space in the Elks building, just down the street from the original location.
Thanks to this support and the loyalty of many longstanding clients, Adams said she does not anticipate needing to take out any loans, but hopes that they could be helpful to others.
“It’s better if (they) take care of somebody else,” she said. “Thank you, God, we’re okay. I don’t need any loans, anything, but maybe somebody else.”
Applications for loans will be accepted until Jan 4. 2027. Butz said this gives businesses time to assess their economic needs, which she noted are not always immediately clear.
“Usually, it’s not felt until six to nine months after that disaster actually happened, which is why we have such a long lead time for economic injury disaster loan applications,” she said. “We anticipate that, of course, businesses feel the immediate effects and have to relocate, set up other places, things like that, but usually, the full economic impact of a disaster is several months down the line.”
Businesses and other organizations can apply for loans online, over the phone or in person at the business recovery center, which opens Tuesday at noon.
The center will then be open from Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will be located at 1055 Kinoole St., Ste. 101, and staffed by SBA representatives available to answer questions and provide support throughout the loan application process.
For details about loans and more information visit: www.sba.gov/funding-programs/disaster-assistance
Email Grace Inez Adams at grace.adams@hawaiitribune-herald.com.