WAI'ANAE — High winds whipped a 12-acre brushfire between Wai'anae High School and the Wai'anae Boat Harbor into a raging inferno yesterday at about 11:40 a.m., engulfing a thicket of kiawe trees and tent dwellings as homeless occupants dashed, screaming, from the bush.

"My tent — it's gone already!" wailed Brenda Cruz, weeping in horror as she watched her possessions go up in flames. "Everything we had — gone! My clothes. My food. There's nothing! Nothing! Nothing!"

Even before police and firefighters had arrived, some tent dwellers rushed back in to save animals, as their neighbors outside the bushes shouted for them to get out. Numerous explosions could be heard as flames rose as high as the kiawe treetops, and quickly spread toward the mountains.

One unidentified Good Samaritan came out carrying a mother dog that had been badly mauled by a mixed-breed pit bull that had panicked in the fire. Someone else managed to rescue the dog's four puppies. Others retrieved a squealing, 3-year-old pot-bellied pig named Oinky.

Arriving police officers quickly sealed off the area adjacent to the flames, and ushered all occupants and pets into the safety of the boat harbor parking lot.

"Our main concern was that some of the homeless were trying to go back in and save their animals," said police watch commander Lt. Frank Pugliese.

Meanwhile, 45 firefighters in six engines, a pump and ladder truck, three tankers and a brush truck had begun fighting the blaze from the west, east and north.

"No one was injured," said fire Capt. Terry Seelig. "Obviously, there are some people who camp here who are displaced by the fire."

Most of the animals were spared — although the fate of the mangled year-old mother dog, Koko, was uncertain. At one point the dog's owner, Tiger Breaux, who also lost everything in the fire, thought the dog might be dying before his eyes.

"Koko, you gotta make it," said Breaux, as he tried to soothe the dog as it lay motionless in the shade of a tree. Moments later, Breaux was startled and encouraged to see the pooch, still bleeding badly, standing up on four shaky legs.

"My tent's gone. They told me not to go back there, but I had to go get my dog," he said. "... I'm not going to let my dog go up in flames."

Tent dwellers said the affected encampment consisted mainly of four families, totaling some eight people. One of those people was Pearl Haasenritter, the owner of Oinky, and also of Booboo, a 2-year-old mixed breed dog that escaped the fire without harm.

Haasenritter, like Cruz and the others, said she was glad nobody was harmed.

Authorities said the cause of the fire, which was contained by 12:45, was unknown. A number of tent dwellers said they saw four boys run from the area moments before the fire broke out.

"Four kids were passing through our trail, and all I heard was, 'Run! Run! It's starting!' " said Cruz. "And when I got up I smelled smoke. We tried to chase 'em, but they kept on running."

Other eyewitnesses verified Cruz's account.

Margaret Lessary, who lives nearby, said she saw four boys running from the scene of the fire. They appeared to be 11 to 14 years of age, she said. She followed them and asked them whether they started the fire, and they said they did not.

Pugliese said it was too soon to draw conclusions.

"I don't know if anyone actually saw the kids lighting anything," he said. "But the way they exited the area was suspicious. We're getting statements (from those who said they saw the boys)."

Police at the scene contacted the Red Cross to assist those who had lost their belongings. Seelig said the investigation to determine the cause of the fire was continuing.