2020-11-06 Fire Commission Regular Minutes

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Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes November 6, 2020 Page 2 Budget: FY 2020/21: Chief stated that they are right on track. Regarding Ocean Safety and EMS, they don't know if the State will provide funding. They have not gotten a new contract for Hapuna. They are finishing up the current contract for Kua Bay. His understanding is that DLNR does not have the funding and have not paid the County for the last quarter. The Mayor has agreed to provide funding until June. Their lifeguards are there for the safety of the community. Providing services without a contract is a legal issue that has to be addressed by Corporation Counsel. The towers for Kua Bay was from the previous fiscal year's funding. They were told they could use Cares Act funds for anything related to Covid such as monitoring the beaches, gatherings, and masks. EMS collects about $40 million from patients, but that money goes into the State's general fund. Chief Perreira introduced Assistant Chiefs Smith and Okinaka who were there to answer any questions about their areas of responsibility. • Alternative Funding and Grants: Through the Daniel Sayre Memorial Foundation, a private citizen will be donating funds for an off-road tanker for South Kohala. They are working on the application for USFA FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant for Covid-19. They were not able to obtain the grant for extractors for the stations. • Human Resources Division: A firefighter was arrested and put on administrative leave. They will be consulting with Corporation Counsel on this matter. They have an ongoing recruitment for Fire Hazmat Specialist, Account Clerk, and Fire Fighter Recruit. Training sessions for Critical Incident Stress Management has opened up with limited room size. Hazmat Technician training is scheduled for November. • Emergency Operations Division: Apparatus E7 and E17 have arrived. The E20 is waiting to be shipped from the West Coast to Hawaii. The BT -17 build has begun. AC Okinaka attended a quarterly HISSPA meeting. AC Okinaka is working on building a new training site. They had a couple large brush fires in Puna. ✓ Special Operations ➢ Hazmat: They have an agreement with Diagnostic Labs to do all their baseline and annual medical monitoring for all Hazmat personnel. They submitted request for funding to purchase replacement Tyvek suits. ➢ Ocean Safety: The ground work that Metzler Construction donated for the storage container at Hapuna was completed. Work to replace the Hapuna Alpha tower and relocate it to Spencer Beach was completed. ➢ Rescue: AC Okinaka continues to work on planning for confined space training. They continue to work on supplemental funding for their rescue boat. ➢ Sayre Foundation: Will be receiving funding for a Big Dog apparatus which is expected to be completed in January 2021.