2023-01-26 Fire Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes January 26, 2023 Page 6 that's not his intention, every single person will be fully trained. HFD is a Fire, EMS, and Ocean Safety based department, it's always going to be one department, he'll never split the departments permanently where EMS has one uniform and are only required to have EMS skills. Chief Todd stated the current system is making it hard to get paramedics, so maybe they can encourage other people who are interested, but they still need to be qualified firefighters. Chair Kosaki stated he agrees and suggested not separating it too much where they forget that there is a valuable resource in having paramedics going to fires or rescues and treating people. Chief Todd stated externally on a budgetary side he wants HFD to be looked at as four different programs. Internally he wants HFD to be considered one department, he would also like to see close tie- ins with Ocean Safety personnel in the future. ➢ Open Recruitments: Chief Todd reported there are approximately 20 people lined up for the firefighter recruit position; 10 with a conditional offer and 10 alternatives. DHR referred 50 names for Fire Communications Officers, but only 11 showed up for interviews. They are moving to fill accountant positions. They have an Accountant IV, are creating an Accountant III position, and are looking to fill three Account I positions. They filled two Clerk III positions (EMS Bureau and Administration). They're still working on the Clerk III interviews (Auxiliary Services Bureau). Open recruitment for Water Safety Officer I positions opened on January 1, 2023, and closed on January 10, 2023. ➢ Classifications: The Storekeeper position was reallocated to Program Support Technician effective September 1, 2022. One Fire Fighter position was reallocated to Fire/EMS Specialist I effective January 1, 2023. • Total Calls for Service (CY 2022): HFD ended the year with a total of 29,594 calls. • Turn-Out Times (CY 2022): Chief Todd referred to the report and stated as they started to put out the stats, they've been seeing an increase in turn-out times, and it's been improving. • Fire Impacts (CY 2022): A total of 18,269 acres burned for the year. Most of this was from the fire that started on PTA land and then moved down into state land, above Waikoloa. There was a total of 716 fires (all other 100 series) such as cooking fires, something smoking, and a variety of other issues. Recess was called at 10:03 a.m., the meeting reconvened at 10:14 a.m. • Highlights: On December 1, 2022, a boat capsized at four corners, and Chopper 1 was able to extract them. On December 21, 2022, at Wai`olena Beach there were scuba divers in distress due to high surf, all divers were retrieved utilizing Chopper