Moving to Hawaii was dream come true for fire victims

About two years ago, 54-year-old Britt Reller took a job as in-flight manager at Hawaiian Airlines to be closer to his older brother’s family.

He purchased a condominium in the Marco Polo high-rise with enough space so that his mother, 87-year-old Jean Dilley, could leave Arizona and move to Hawaii as well. It was a dream come true for his older brother, Phil Reller, who was planning an approaching retirement filled with lots of family time, including a trip to India with his brother to visit the Evangelical Hospital in Khariar, India, a cause dear to both of their hearts.

Instead, Phil Reller will be spending the early days of his retirement trying to make sense of a deadly fire that took his mother, his brother and his brother’s little Maltese, Eddie. The two were among three people killed and a dozen injured in a fire that broke out Friday afternoon at the condominium at 2333 Kapiolani Blvd., next to Ala Wai Community Park. The building, with 568 residential units, was built in 1971 before the city began requiring sprinkler systems.

“Everything was much clearer before (Friday),” said Reller, who spoke about his family’s tragic loss on the lanai of his Ewa Beach home Saturday with his wife, Trina Zelle, and daughter Caitlin Reller.

Meanwhile Saturday, most of the residents of the Marco Polo were allowed to return to their condos, although the 26th, 27th and 28th floors remain closed. Many of those displaced were being cared for at a Red Cross shelter set up in the gym at ‘Iolani School.

The fire remains under investigation. The third victim was identified by a family member Saturday as Joann M. Kuwata, 71, who lived in unit 2615.

Phil Reller learned of the deaths Friday evening from a police chaplain after spending most of the day on the grounds of the Marco Polo watching the blaze, which wasn’t extinguished until midnight. Phil Reller said he rushed to the Marco Polo after Hawaiian Airlines notified him that his brother had phoned to say he would be late for work because a fire had broken out at his building.

Phil Reller said he feared the worst after the airline employee told him they had lost contact with his brother, who had climbed under a bed to escape the billowing smoke.

“I got there at 3 p.m and reported that a person was alive in unit 2613. The firefighters put his room to the top, but by 7 p.m., they still hadn’t been able to get there,” Phil Reller said. “The police chaplain came and comforted me and later the medical examiner called.”

Phil Reller is a pastor at the Pearl City Community Church and his wife is a minister at the Manoa Valley Church, but that hasn’t made it any easier for the couple to learn of the sudden, unexpected deaths or the fact they might have been prevented if the Marco Polo had a sprinkler system.

“Here’s what will bother me to the day I die. Before he bought at the Marco Polo, he found an old Navy officer’s quarters in Waikiki, but he couldn’t get a mortgage because it didn’t have sufficient parking. Evidently, not having a sprinkler system is not as important as parking,” Zelle said.

Phil Reller and Zelle said they hope the tragedy will inspire government, nonprofits and private businesses to work together to find a way to affordably install sprinkler systems in older buildings.

“There were two fires in that building, one in 2013 and one now. What’s it going to take for corporate conscience to kick in?” Zelle said. “How many lives? How many losses?”

One is too many, Reller said. His mind is flooded with memories of his brother, who was 12 years his junior and helped his mother find joy again after the untimely death of their 6-year-old brother Dougie, who died while Jean Dilley was pregnant with Britt.

“His mom had a very, very difficult life,” Zelle said. “We were assuming we’d have lots of happy times moving forward. You don’t expect this kind of thing. Maybe a car crash or some illness, but not this.”

Phil Reller said he was grateful for the time his family had in Hawaii and enjoyed getting to know more deeply the brother he taught to play Little League and slugger baseball. He also treasures the stories that Britt’s friends and co-workers have begun to share about the man who rose from flight attendant to a popular airline executive.

“Today flight attendants are remembering his electric personality and infectious smile,” the Association of Flight Attendants said in a statement Saturday. “He was consistent throughout his career of in-flight management at Northwest, US Airways/American and Hawaiian. We offer our thoughts and prayers to his family and all who knew him.”

Hawaiian Airlines also remembers Britt as a “wonderful and dedicated member of its in-flight ohana.”

“He was a talented manager and caring co-worker and we will miss him terribly. Our hearts are with Britt’s brother, Phil, and his entire family,” Robin Sparling, a vice president at Hawaiian Airlines, said in a statement.

A Facebook site, called Remembering Britt Reller, had 924 members by Saturday evening, said Caitlin Reller, who is spending the summer in Hawaii and was looking forward to taking a shopping trip with her dapper uncle, who also worked at Bloomingdale’s, later this week after his return from a mainland work trip.

“He always looked really preppy and put together and he ragged on my dad constantly for how he dressed,” Caitlin Reller said. “He was silly and fun and very generous. He’d give you the shirt off his back. Well, first he’d probably make fun of the shirt you were wearing and then he’d give you his.”

The family intends to have separate services for Jean Dilley and Britt Reller, both in Hawaii and on the mainland. Details are pending.