MA'ILI — Neighbors and friends described Tony O. Macabio as a quiet guy known to everyone as the neighborhood's "Mr. Fix-It," always ready to lend a hand with their cars or their homes.

Macabio, 46, is believed to have been the man killed about midday Thursday during an apparent explosion at his Heleuma Street home.

The city Medical Examiner's Officer yesterday was not yet ready to positively identify the victim or state a cause of death, pending further investigation.

Police Lt. William Kato of the homicide investigation unit said the occupant of the home may have been trying to pressurize or depressurize a tank of some sort.

Neighbors said they heard a loud explosion shortly before noon Thursday. It rattled windows and dishes, and set off car alarms throughout the quiet community.

The police bomb squad and fire department's hazardous materials team were called to investigate and police evacuated homes in the area from about 8:30 p.m. Thursday to 1:30 a.m. yesterday.

Rozlynn Twigg, who lives nearby, said her husband, John, and another neighbor went to Macabio's house shortly after the explosion. John Twigg stayed outside as the other neighbor went inside. They found nothing and left. After dark, John Twigg figured he should go check on Macabio again, his wife said, so he and the same neighbor again went to the house. This time, the neighbor found a body, Rozlynn Twigg said.

Anita Ferreira, who lives across the street from the Macabio house, said Macabio has lived alone since the death of his mother about a year or two ago.

Ferreira, who described herself as a second mother to Macabio, said he worked as a mechanic out of the house and also did handyman work for neighbors. Macabio also drove her to her errands, she said.

"I no care when I call him, he would come over," Ferreira said. "He had a big heart for such a small guy," she said, describing him as about 5 feet 2 and thin.

Macabio had a daughter and a son, both teens, who live nearby with their grandparents.

Barry Westlake, whose sister Maria is the mother of Macabio's children, said he last saw him two days ago. "He was a likable guy, that's for sure," Westlake said.

Westlake said his sister is living on the Mainland and that she and Macabio had not been a couple for some time. Joyce Unciano, of Kapolei, went to the house yesterday to pay her respects and to figure out what to do about the two cars parked on the street Macabio had been working on.

"He was a good mechanic, he did good work," Unciano said. "He did beyond what you asked.

"He was an icon of the neighborhood. Any time anybody needed anything, they would come to Tony."

Addressing speculation, police spokesman Maj. Frank Fujii said there was no indication the victim was attempting to cook up a batch of crystal methamphet-amine.

Kato said there were no scorch marks on the victim or in the room where he was found.

Investigators did find pieces of a tank that may have exploded.

Kato said investigators also found an intact, full-size oxygen tank and were told it had been used to supply the man's elderly mother with oxygen before she died.