It was a chaotic scene Tuesday night on Kuhio Avenue.

The Royal Kuhio is a condominium and time share building when the fire alarm went off many people headed for the stairs and evacuated.

At first they waiting outside at the lobby but police put up yellow tape and made everyone move across the street because of possible chemical fumes.

The fire started around 8:25 p.m. Tuesday on the mauka side of the seventh floor, that's the recreation area. This was a three-alarm fire. Fire crews got the blaze under control 20 minutes later.

One firefighter was injured, either with a broken finger or hand and a woman was in an ambulance being treated likely for smoke inhalation.

There were reports of a suspicious box with some wires sticking out but fire officials say the building manager believes its cable used for scaffolding by some workers. There are several open 5-gallon containers with some type of liquid inside. Hazmat crews will probably be here for about another hour and the fire investigator is also here.

Police let residents, who have been waiting outside, back into the building a little before 10 p.m. Many residents are elderly are making their way back inside.

Police have reopened the closed off part of Kuhio Avenue to cars heading east towards Diamond Head. The lane heading toward town is still closed.

There are still several emergency vehicles at the scene.

Many residents were not only chased out by thick smoke but were kept at a distance by the chemical stench.

"Do you see any smoke or flames?," asked KGMB9's Lisa Kubota.

"No, but I could smell it," said one resident.

"Were you worried?," Kubota asked.

"Yeah, I kept feeling the door as I was coming down," the resident said.

"I think it was on the seventh floor that's what they say," said one woman.

"The reacreation area of the parking garage?," asked Kubota.

"No, it's not a parking garage. The seventh floor is the recreation area. It has a swimming pool and a barbeque area," the woman said.

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