22-Year-Old Olena’s Massage Center Reopens in Hilo After Fire With Elks Help

Olena’s Massage Center reopened in downtown Hilo this week after the building was destroyed by a fire last November, co-owners say, with aid from the Hilo Elks Lodge and other community supporters that made the recovery possible. Co-owners Doris Saxer and Olena Adams, who have run the practice for around two decades, resumed services at the location that long-time clients call a neighborhood healing center.

Accounts differ on the exact age of the business, some describe Olena’s as a 22-year-old operation while other descriptions put Saxer’s massage room at roughly 20 years, but both owners emphasized the center’s role on Kinoole and Haili Streets. “We're heartbroken,” Saxer said. “We're heartbroken because this has been a safe healing center, people walk in and they feel immediately better.” Adams added, “We’re a sisterhood, and we so apologize to our patients, maybe in the next couple months or more, we cannot provide (services).”

Saxer described the damage after the blaze: “The roof if caved in, where my old room was and our bathroom and our hallway is a complete mess. Everything is black and you can see the sky. It's completely gutted. There's nothing left structurally left that can be saved of this building.” A photo taken Dec. 16, 2025 by Kevin Fujii shows the neighboring Avani Yoga and Boutique razed and the Olena’s building damaged next door, underscoring the concentrated destruction in that block of downtown Hilo.

The reopening comes amid a recent string of fires in downtown Hilo. Hawaii Island police said four buildings were engulfed in flames on a Sunday morning when a fast-moving fire jumped from one structure to another on Kinoole and Haili Streets. Authorities closed Kinoole Street and Keawe Street between Haili Street and Waianuenue Avenue, and Haili Street between Kinoole and Keawe, while crews cleared the area. Officials reported that the Sunday blaze displaced seven people and prompted mass evacuations; evacuees were allowed to return by 4 p.m., though the county kept shelter open overnight for those needing assistance.

Saturday’s separate fatal fire claimed two lives, police reported, a 72-year-old woman and a 56-year-old woman, whose identities have not yet been released, and displaced nearly 30 residents from that incident. Mayor Kimo Alameda spoke to the spate of local tragedies: "Our community has faced major tragedy recently, including the loss of three lives. On behalf of the county, I extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of the loved who we lost," he said. "These fires remind me that we have a very strong responsive fire department and supporting agencies within the county and the non-profits to mobilize when called." Alameda has also said one of the recent fires was arson while investigators continue to determine causes of the others.

Fire officials emphasized the speed of the weekend fire and the danger posed by tightly spaced downtown buildings. “due to the rapid move of fire. The concern that these buildings are close together and fire rapidly spreading, we wanted to make sure that everyone was safe and accounted for and evacuated,” Hawaii Fire Department assistant fire chief Christopher Carvalho said.

County records and recent reviews of inspections have raised broader questions about oversight of older downtown structures. Records show the Wild Ginger Inn’s most recent permitted work was completed in July 1990 and the Puʻuʻeo Poi Factory’s in July 1998; county officials have said the two fatal fires in October and November occurred in buildings that had not been inspected, even though state law calls for inspections at least every five years. “The department does its best to get out and inspect as many places as possible,” Todd said, but “driving down the dirt road, to see if that old warehouse has been converted, that may never happen.”

Community relief efforts aided Olena’s recovery. A GoFundMe fundraiser was created to provide recovery support for Saxer, and county agencies and nonprofits provided shelter and meals in the immediate aftermath of the weekend fires. Saxer said the reopening, and the neighborhood support that made it possible, validates the center’s role in Hilo life: “I’m heartbroken because this has been my home away from home, it’s been my second home, it’s been a refuge when I’ve had hard times and the women that I work with have been loving and supportive, and we’re a sisterhood. People rely on us. People rely on us a lot.”