It’s so disheartening that Hawaiian Electric Company seems to be the main target for lawsuit because of last year’s unfortunate August 8 inferno. I thought settlement has been done.

Survivors were compensated enough to purchase new homes and move on. Yet, they’re still being lured to sue. I hope survivors opt common sense. Embarking on lawsuit could dragged on, more of the settlement could end up in lawyers’ pocket. There are good lawyers, but there are also money grubbers.

HECO took responsibility and offered justified settlement though was not really their fault.

When fire broke out in Kula early morning, there were no sirens. A former judge’s house burnt down also. He could have alerted the mayor, another former judge. I wonder how many houses were built without permits. These were innocent negligence which caused chain reaction of mistakes to escalate.

All were caught off guard. Nobody expected the unusual normal roaring wind would blow down electric wires. HECO was already on task of replacing old poles.

Nature caused the fire but the callous negligence by leaders played the role as some self-builders could have feigned ignorance and did not follow protocol.

Move on; stop dwelling on something misfortune that cannot be undone. We should learn from these mistakes by correcting them and be conscious with position and duty not only by officials but citizens.

Allow HECO to do their job at ease so replacing old poles could be done well and soon.

Irene Blancaflor Nakama

Makawao