
Flames ripped through three floors of a Honolulu tower block, killing three people including a mother and her adult son on Friday and injuring 12, officials said.

The blaze at the 36-story Marco Polo condominium complex sent thick black smoke pouring over the city, a month to the day after a deadly high-rise fire in London.

Firefighters sprayed water onto the flames from nearby balconies and brought them under control at about 6.30 p.m. local time.

'I looked down I could see the billowing smoke coming up,' resident Ron Chiarottino said. 'I heard three women's voices screaming, pleading, moaning, 'Please help me, please' continuous screaming for five or ten minutes, and then I didn't hear anymore.'

Karen Hastings was in her 31st floor Honolulu apartment when she smelled smoke. She ran out to her balcony, looked down, and saw flames five floors below her.

'The fire just blew up and went flying right out the windows,' the 71-year-old Hastings said of the first moments of the high-rise blaze that killed at least three people and injured 12.

'And that was like a horror movie. Except it wasn't a horror movie, it was for real.'

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The huge blaze was seen rising up the outside of the building from miles around during the rescue operation

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser newspaper said a mother and her adult son were among the three people who perished on the 26th floor, where the fire started.

Fire Chief Manuel Neves told reporters that the building did not have a sprinkler system. 'Without a doubt if there was sprinklers in this apartment, the fire would be contained to the unit of origin ... the unit (where) the fire started,' he said.

However, the building is not required to have fire sprinklers Neves admitted. The 36-floor building near the tourist mecca of Waikiki was built in 1971, before sprinklers were mandatory in high-rises. It has over 500 units.

In London, at least 80 people were killed when a fire gutted the 24-story Grenfell Tower block on June 14. That building was also built in the 1970s and did not have a sprinkler system.

Smoke billows from a high-rise apartment building in Honolulu. Dozens of firefighters are battling the multiple-alarm fire at Marco Polo apartments. At least three people are dead as a result of the blaze

Fire Chief Manuel Neves told reporters that the building did not have a sprinkler system. 'Without a doubt if there was sprinklers in this apartment, the fire would be contained to the unit of origin ... the unit (where) the fire started,' he said

More than 100 firefighters tackled the fire and officers were conducting a room-by-room search, a task that could take several hours, he added.

A firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion while battling the fire along with four others who were taken to hospital in serious condition.

Late into the night as embers smoldered, firefighters were searching the damaged areas to make sure no additional people perished.

Firefighters say there were reports of people trapped in their units in the burning building

Smoke billowed from one of the balconies while the rest of the building was evacuated

The charred exterior of the Marco Polo building is seen after firefighters controlled the blaze in Honolulu

Hastings said the fearsome flames drove her and a neighbor to run down 14 floors until they found a safe stairwell to get some air.

'We actually saw a person laying on a ledge and I don't know whether he made it not,' Hastings said.

The building is vast and wave-shaped, and has several sections. The blaze was mostly confined to a single section, and only the units immediately above it and to the side of it were evacuated, while many residents stayed inside.

The blaze was still burning some four hours after it broke out as the sun set, but it was down to mostly embers by then, official said.

A shelter was set up at a nearby school where about 50 residents had gathered late in the evening.

Most evacuations went calmly and smoothly, security guard Leonard Rosa said.

Cory La Roe, who is from Florida and stationed in Hawaii with the Air Force, works night shifts and was asleep when sirens woke him at about 2:15 p.m.

'First thing, I was kind of disoriented and confused about what was going on, so I looked out my window and saw people running away from the building, looking back toward it.'

La Roe said he didn't hear any verbal announcements and there were no flashing fire alarm lights in the building, but 'after I saw people running out and went out to the hallway, I knew it was a fire alarm.'

The charred exterior of the Marco Polo Building is pictured after a fire gutted the top floors and reportedly killed at least three people in Honolulu, Hawaii

The charred exterior of the Marco Polo Building is pictured after a fire broke out on the upper floors in Honolulu, Hawaii, on July 14, 2017. At least three people were killed and a dozen injured when a massive fire tore through the 36-story apartment complex

Firefighters are seen climbing the tower block in a bid to reach residents trapped on the floors surrounding the fire

A woman, who exited the Marco Polo apartment complex, is placed in an ambulance as firefighters continue to battle the blaze at the high-rise

Paramedics help residents who were rescued from the burning tower block in Honolulu

The damage was covered large swathes of the building. Authorities say they were no sprinklers in the high rise

He saw an elderly couple come down that looked 'sooty' who were taken to the hospital. He saw other people brought out on stretchers.

He didn't realize that the building didn't have a sprinkler system and was surprised that was the case.

'That's one thing that I wasn't aware of prior to moving in,' La Roe said. 'It was definitely shocking for me to know that there weren't any sprinklers installed in the building.'

Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said the city needs to look at passing a law requiring older buildings be retrofitted with sprinklers.

'The biggest argument is the affordability,' Caldwell said. 'Residents have to pay. It's pretty expensive. But if it saves a life and it's your life, it's worth the cost.'

No one from the building said they remembered recent fire drills, but Anna Viggiano, who lives on the 6th floor, said there were some after a 2013 fire that broke out two floors above her.

She said since then she doesn't hesitate to evacuate when she hears the alarm.

'It was scary,' she said. 'It was terrifying.'

Residents of the Marco Polo building register at a shelter for overnight accommodations after a deadly fire tore through the high rise building

Search and Rescue paramedics prepare to go into Marco Polo apartment building as the fire rages

Police were yelling through megaphones for people still inside to come down, Yasuda said. He watched as people were carried out.

'It's been an orderly evacuation,' said security guard Leonard Rosa, who was answering phones from the front lobby of the 31-story building near Waikiki. Police and firefighters were going door-to-door, he said.

Fourth-floor resident Aaron Dengler and his wife were helping their elderly neighbor get to an aid station the American Red Cross set up at a nearby park. 'It doesn't help to just stand and watch,' he said.

About two hours after the fire started it looked like flames were getting bigger and it looked like the blaze was reaching the 28th floor, Dengler said. 'People are getting kind of nervous now,' he said. 'It's worrisome.'

One resident who declined to give his name said he made it to safety after climbing the stairs from the 29th floor. The man said there was so much smoke, he could hardly see.

James Graffis hands out bottled water to residents of the Marco Polo apartment building

A shocking photo shows the charred remains of a group of apartments that were in the center of the inferno