2022-09-22 Fire Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes September 22, 2022 Page 5 ✓ Training Branch: They've been working hard to get their personnel trained in a variety of new techniques, inclusive of the "nozzle forward" hose deployment and driver training. ✓ Volunteer Training Section: Chief Todd stated that he had planned to meet them, introduce himself and speak with the volunteer firefighters and see the conditions of the stations. He attends every volunteer captain's meeting, which is held quarterly. His goal is to visit every person that works for their department at least once per year. ✓ Fire Prevention Branch: Chief Todd stated that he's also looking to change this report, which would be more detailed with scats. The Fire Prevention Branch investigated five structure fires for the month of August. They reviewed quite a few plans for the month and are up to almost twice what they have been doing in the past year. Personnel conducted 256 inspections. Chair Kosaki wanted to know how the canine arson program worked out in the past. Chief Todd stated the arson program died out during the previous administration when they tried to find someone to take over the program and offered to pay them 1/5 of what they paid the previous program manager. He feels the arson dog can be very useful, but it would be a supplement to an already good system. He would argue that part of the issue with arson investigation is that it requires a lot of training and investment and there isn't a lot of localized training. He would like to build a great investigation program and things like having an arson dog could be a great supplement to that. Commissioner Wolf left the meeting at 10.09 a.m. Chief Todd apologized for missing the last Fire Commission meeting, he attended the Fire Rescue International Conference as part of his training for Fire Service Executive Development. He spoke about a new technology known as "Prepared" which is still in discussion. Callers can allow dispatchers access to see videos, photos, and locations through a link sent to a person's phone. It also doesn't require a 9-1-1 call for them to use it. The next implementation for this would probably be in the EOC and would be useful during major incidents. He would be able to send a text message to the battalion chief on the scene asking for them to stream back some information/video. It would be stored in the cloud, the EOC would have a copy of that video which they could replay. He noted that it's also free. Commissioner Henkel stated that while reading the recent correspondence some people expressed concern, stating that the commission isn't taking the complaints seriously. He would like to say that they are dealing with it, it's a process and it might take a little time.