On the one hand, it’s not that surprising that Max Sword, chairman of the Honolulu Police Commission, is related by marriage to one of the applicants for the police chief’s job. There are seven degrees of separation — probably less — between lots of isle folk. Thomas Aiu, retired U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, is a first cousin of Sword’s wife.

Whatever the city Ethics Commission advises next week, it’s uncomfortable. How could voting for kin fail to raise eyebrows? All this hubbub could make family gatherings awkward. Thanksgiving’s around the corner.

A fire in the Marco Polo neighborhood

The arrival of 16 firefighter units at the scene of a building fire on Thursday afternoon surely touched off jitters blocks away along Kapiolani Boulevard at the Marco Polo condominium complex — the scene of a seven-alarm fatal high-rise fire in mid-July.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported in the three-alarm blaze at the four-story, walk-up Iolani Terrace building. However, the fire damaged at least six of 18 apartments.