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Community’s safety should be a priority during fires

In the rebuttal to my June 18 letter regarding the cane fire that was the direct cause of several accidents, I would like to ask the June 22 letter writer: If there were no smoke, would the accidents have happened?

It is obvious that in any dangerous road condition there is always more risk to drivers than if the weather is clear and free from hazards. As humans, we will not react to the same situation in exactly the same way.

In this case, where vision is hampered, some might think to drive though is prudent as it will clear up ahead. Others fear that if someone ahead has stopped, they’ll run into them. It’s the luck of the draw as to who gets through safely.

But what the writer misses is that these aforementioned hazards are natural occurrences – cane fires are not. They are man-made and, as such, the people setting them should have the community’s safety as first priority.

This fire was not a regular cane burning. This fire was a reignition of an earlier one. This fire was out of control and had caught the dry brush alongside the road on fire.

This fire was not one of the arsons that have been set on Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar land. This fire was a hazard to the community.

The letter writer was not there. He was not in harm’s way nor was his family. He has no right to judge those of us involved.

Dawna Richmond

Haiku

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