An ʻEwa Beach community care foster family home where a 93-year-old woman was killed in a fire Wednesday night had a history of failing to document whether it was conducting fire drills as required, state inspection reports show.

But when last inspected in July, it had been in compliance since December 2024, the records show.

The blaze sent a second resident of the care home, a 53-year-old woman, to the hospital in serious condition and killed a 32-year-old woman who lived behind the home.

Denise Yoshida, a certified nurse assistant who owned and operated the four-bedroom care facility on Fort Weaver Road, was not hurt in the fire. She did not respond to messages seeking comment Friday.

State regulations require care facilities to conduct, document and maintain a record of unannounced fire drills at least monthly, including the testing of smoke detectors.

A 2022 inspection found the home had not conducted a fire drill since June of that year, and that the binders containing the rest of the home’s records were in “disarray,” making it difficult to do the inspection. The report noted this was a repeat citation. 

An unannounced November 2023 inspection found no evidence that the home had conducted monthly fire drills in the past year, and the facility provided no documentation to state inspectors to counter that. 

Again, during an unannounced visit in 2024, state inspectors found no fire drill documentation present for November 2023 or December 2023. A written plan of corrective action, signed in January 2025, shows a plan for the caregivers to verify the placement of the fire drill form on a monthly basis and confirm it was completed via a shared app.

The state Department of Health’s Office of Health Care Assurance licenses and provides oversight of more than 800 community care foster family homes in Hawai‘i. Some of them can have up to three residents who pay privately or through Medicaid. They receive care at a level comparable to that found in a traditional nursing home, but in a less institutionalized setting.

Turning To Residential Care Homes

Hawai‘i’s rapidly aging population has also turned to adult residential care homes, which are similar to community care foster family homes except they can accept more clients in each facility. Type 1 can have up to five residents, and type 2 can have six or more. 

As of September, Yoshida’s certificate to operate was active, up for renewal March 31, and the home provided care for up to two patients.

State health department officials said Friday that the home was last inspected in July, and it had been in compliance with fire drills since December 2024, according to Justin Lam at the Office of Health Care Assurance. Community Ties of America conducts the inspections of community care foster homes on behalf of the Department of Health. The next inspection had been scheduled for December.

It is unclear whether the home had not been conducting fire drills at all in those prior years or had just not been documenting them, according to Lam.

Nurses who inspect community care foster homes also check to make sure the smoke detectors are functioning properly, the house is equipped with fire extinguishers and there aren’t more oxygen tanks in the home than are allowed under the fire code. This facility, according to Lam, was in compliance with those other requirements during its July inspection. 

For years, Hawai‘i did not require unannounced inspections like those that uncovered the fire drill deficiencies. The Legislature finally overcame the strong lobbying by care home operators and changed the law in 2019, only to immediately try to start watering it down again by making the unannounced inspections optional.

Meanwhile, the state long-term care ombudsman’s office has been chronically understaffed. The ombudsman is tasked with investigating and resolving complaints related to the health, safety, welfare and rights of more than 12,000 residents living in 1,700 long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, adult residential care homes, community care foster family homes and assisted living facilities. Hawai‘i for decades had one full-time paid ombudsman, fewer than any other state.

The Homeʻs History

Built as a single-family home in 1973, the 1,016-square-foot building had single-wall wood construction, four bedrooms and three bathrooms, according to Honolulu property information.

The last permitted electrical work was completed by the previous owner in September 1979, according to permitting data from the Honolulu Department of Permitting and Planning. Plumbing work was also completed at that time. Additional plumbing for a home addition was completed in 1999.

Denise and Norman Yoshida took ownership from John Silva on Feb. 27, 2004, for $280,000. The building and land were valued at $833,000, according to a 2025 property tax assessment.

The fire remains under investigation. Officials said the home is a complete loss.

Honolulu police said the body of a 93-year-old woman was found in the home after the fire was extinguished. The Honolulu Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet released the identities of either of the women who died.

A 32-year-old woman was taken to a hospital with second-, third- and fourth-degree burns. She was pronounced dead at Straub Medical Center at 9:15 p.m. Thursday. A 53-year-old woman was also taken to a hospital with serious third-degree burns. Her condition was unknown.

Paramedics evaluated five other women, — ages 92, 28, 56, 88 and 51 — on scene who refused to be taken to the hospital, according to Honolulu Emergency Services spokeswoman Shayne Enright.

Civil Beat reporters Caitlin Thompson, Madeleine List and Matthew Leonard contributed to this story.