The Hawaii Police Department has assumed the investigation of a Friday morning fire that caused an estimated $2 million damage to the shuttered Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel on Banyan Drive.
Capt. Sandor Finkey of the Hilo Patrol Division said Criminal Investigation Section detectives will be taking over the probe of the fire — which is being investigated as an arson case.
“We’re still waiting on the fire inspector’s finding, but it’s possible it may have been electrical, and it’s possible there may have been some sign of tampering with the electrical” system in the building, Finkey said.
Finkey said even though an arson investigation has been opened, “the cause is still undetermined.”
A Hawaii Fire Department release described the fire at the former 145-room hotel as “suspicious” in nature.
According to police, staff from another Hilo hotel reported the fire at the former Uncle Billy’s hotel at 87 Banyan Drive at 1:39 a.m.
An HFD statement said 14 units were deployed to the scene. The first unit arrived at 1:46 a.m.
The fire was reported under control at 3 a.m. and extinguished at 4 a.m.
Banyan Drive was closed until about 5 a.m. with police rerouting traffic to Lihiwai Street and Banyan Way.
No injuries were reported, and no neighboring structures were damaged by the fire.
The former hotel building is on state-owned land administered by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and DLNR enforcement officers helped provide security at the scene.
Both Finkey and Fire Chief Kazuo Todd said there was evidence of squatter activity in the building, which was shuttered by the state DLNR in 2016 after the lease expired on the property.
“DLNR has been pursuing demolition and redevelopment of the property, but this effort is currently on hold due to lack of funds for demolition as well as non-DLNR related litigation,” DLNR spokesman Dan Dennison said in a statement.
A lawsuit was filed in September by the Edmund C. Olson Trust against Ed Bushor and Stewart Miller, respectively the CEO and president of Tower Development Inc., a partner of the corporate entity that owns the neighboring Grand Naniloa Hotel.
According to the suit, Tower and Olson/Naniloa partnered to form WHR LLC, which owns the Grand Naniloa. In doing so, Bushor and Miller signed an agreement prohibiting Tower from acquiring, developing or owning any potential competitive properties — defined as “a hotel project of more than 50 rooms within a 30-mile radius of the Naniloa.”
Dennison said an interim security contract for the Uncle Billy’s property lapsed at the end of 2021.
“DLNR continues to explore cost-effective options for further securing the property,” Dennison said.
Todd said there was a small flare-up Friday afternoon at the site of the fire, “So our units did respond back.”
According to Todd, there are two categories of fires set by humans, “intentional and accidental.”
“As far as we can tell, and we won’t come to a final conclusion because no witnesses — and only the people who started the fire are going to know for sure if it grew beyond their ability to manage, or whether it was something they decided to intentionally spread,” Todd said. “We can tell you there was evidence on scene of previous fires, and that squatters had been there. And, potentially, there’s a correlation between those two things.
“Unfortunately, the structure itself sustained about 70%, 75% involvement on that one wing that was burning. So we had a pretty good working fire on the third and fourth floors of this building, with somewhat extension onto the second floor.”
Todd said the fire has made the building more dangerous to anyone who ventures inside.
“You’re going to have unstable portions of the structure that have carcinogenic materials that have been left over from the fire,” Todd said. “There are going to be areas that are slippery and wet, because there are now holes in the roof.
“So, definitely, it’s going to be more dangerous than before, and definitely, we should be trying to find a way to make sure it’s locked up and prevent people from being able to make entry into the location.”
Three individuals were arrested in the building later in the day on matters unrelated to the fire itself.
Police say Antanacious Nau, 29, of Hilo was arrested on a previous bench warrant and on suspicion of two counts of third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug in the third degree, marijuana possession, drug paraphernalia, and criminal trespassing. He was released on the trespassing and drug-related charges pending further investigation, but is still behind held on the bench warrant.
And according to Dennison, 37-year-old Ricardo Cordeiro and 40-year-old Nohelani Cordeiro, both of Hilo, were cited for criminal trespassing on state land after being found asleep in a room in the former hotel.
Anyone with information on the fire is asked to call the police department’s nonemergency line at 935-3311 or Crime Stoppers at 961-8300.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.