Letter: Not everyone can afford fire sprinklers

It seems that practically every week there’s a house or structure fire somewhere on Oahu totaling millions of dollars in loss to property and even, tragically, the loss of life (“Wife and daughter of HPD lieutenant die in Kaimuki fire,” Star-Advertiser, Oct. 18).

Yet you don’t hear the mayor or City Council members start calling for sprinklers in these structures. Why is it that only when there’s a fire in a condo do they start spouting off about requiring sprinklers in the older condos?

I live in a condo and most of the owners are retired on fixed incomes.

We also have asbestos on our ceilings, which will make the cost of installing a sprinkler system in the tens of thousands of dollars.

We have a mortgage and a HELOC on our unit and we’re also helping put our grandkids through private school. I doubt we’ll be able to qualify, much less pay, for yet another loan.

Also, the Honolulu Fire Department recently received new fire trucks with 101-foot ladders. Why couldn’t they purchase trucks with longer ladders?

Al Oshiro

Makiki

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