Kapa‘a Pop Warner Pee Wee and Junior Pee Wee players were to be issued brand-new football equipment at practice yesterday. Instead, Thursday afternoon, they stood around a heap of charred wood, as the storage shed at Kapa‘a Ball Park where
Kapa‘a Pop Warner Pee Wee and Junior Pee Wee players were to be issued brand-new football equipment at practice yesterday.
Instead, Thursday afternoon, they stood around a heap of charred wood, as the storage shed at Kapa‘a Ball Park where all of the equipment stored for the 9-12 year old players new season burned in an early morning fire.
“We lost everything,” said Fran Johnson, Kapa‘a Pop Warner vice-president. “It’s pretty sad.”
The season began with pre-season training Sunday, with the first game scheduled for September 11. But devastating fire or not the season will go on for the Pee Wee players, said Johnson.
“The fire is unfortunate, but, ultimately, the people who lose from it is the children,” she added. “But adults of Kapa‘a Pop Warner will make sure they have the season they deserve.”
At a late afternoon prayer gathering Johnson said calls of support and promises of equipment from other teams on Kaua‘i, from other islands and from the West Coast are coming in.
The league has also set up a “Fire Fund” at the First Hawaiian Bank where anyone who wants to contribute can make a donation at any branch of the bank.
In a bitter twist, practice scheduled for yesterday afternoon, where kids were to receive their recently-delivered uniforms, pads and helmets, was instead used to explain what happened.
“It’s something they’ll never forget,” Johnson said. “If the fire happened today, the equipment would’ve been issued and at the kid’s homes.”
Harry Victorino led the prayer service, praying, “things like this show us how blessed we truly are,” pointing out to the young players to look at what they have, not what they’ve lost.
The fire was reported to Kaua‘i Fire Department at 5:17 a.m., said county officials.
Engine 2 and Rescue 2 from Kapa‘a responded, reached the scene at 5:20 a.m., and had the fire under control and extinguished within ten minutes, officials said.
But the damage was already done.
The youth football storage facility was almost 500 square feet, and contained including football uniforms, pads, balls and tools to line the playing field; all were reportedly destroyed. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Donations can also be sent to Kapa‘a Pop Warner, P.O. Box 605, Kapa‘a, 96746, or call Lilane Corpuz, treasurer, at 822-9084 or 635-6783.
