Fire officials credit an alert 12-year-old girl and a man with preventing fire from destroying an Iroquois Point home yesterday.

The fire at 4741-D West Ekahi Way caused about $125,000 in damage to one of the units in the duplex. Both units could have burned to the ground, however, if not for the girl and man, said Capt. Kenison Tejada, Honolulu Fire Department spokesman.

At about 4 p.m., the girl went to visit her friend at the unit, but no one was home. Tejada said the girl heard a smoke alarm and looked inside and saw a couch on fire. She then ran to the other unit and alerted the residents. Tejada said the family apparently had not heard the smoke alarm and were unaware of the blaze.

"It was a good thing the girl showed up and it was a good thing that they had a smoke detector because when she went up to the door, she wouldn't have looked inside if it wasn't for the smoke detector," Tejada said.

Meanwhile, a male neighbor ran to the burning unit and used a hose to fight the fire, he said.

"When we got there the unit was full of smoke, but there were no flames. We attribute that to the guy who safely put water on the fire," Tejada said.

No one was injured, but the family of three who live in the damaged unit was forced to find temporary housing last night.

Still, Tejada said, things could have been a lot worse.

"If that fire went undetected for another five minutes, we could have had a major fire on our hands," Tejada said. "Another few minutes could have completely changed the outcome."

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.