2005-12-14 Fire Commission Minutes

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Assistant Chief Mento mentioned that after serving 31 years in the Fire Department, Battalion Chief Curtis Matsui will be retiring at the end of the month. The department will be selecting his replacement in the near future. Auxiliary Services: Three sections of the Auxiliary Services include the · Maintenance shop, the Fire Communications Control Center and the Warehouse. The Maintenance Shop will be filling a mechanic position. The Fire Communications Control Center has four vacant dispatcher positions and hopes to fill these positions by March 2006. The Warehouse is waiting on equipment that will supply all Stations the same equipment and provide each individual his/her own facemask. They are looking for creative solutions with moving supplies around the island. Fire Prevention Bureau: Permits are being sold at three sites on the · island (Hilo, Kona, and Waimea.) In the past, the Fire Department partnered with vendors and allowed them to sell the fireworks permits. Although this was a highly successful program and beneficial to the department, another jurisdiction did not appreciate it and the Hawai'i County Fire Department was informed that State law requires that permits be sold and issued only by the Fire Department. The department will be working with the State Legislature in order to change the law. rd Training Bureau: The 33 Fire Fighter recruit class will begin their driver · nd training next week and finish in January 2006. The 32 Fire Fighter recruit class is presently doing their classroom portion EMT-I for the next two weeks. They will thereafter begin their medic portion. EMS Bureau: On December 12, 2005, Chief Oliveira hosted a meeting · with all of the States EMS providers, which included the City and County of Honolulus American Medical Response and Hawai'i Air Ambulance, Inc. The forum discussed mutual problems such as shortage of MICTs, training issues, etc. Another meeting will be held in January 2006. In addition, the department has 20 Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) thatarebeingupgraded.Thesemodelswillreplacetheexistingones. CommissionerKudloquestionedtheprotocolinvolvedwithreplacingequipment such as tires. Assistant Chief Mento stated that there are contracted vendors located throughouttheislandwhoprovidethosetypesofservice.However,largeritems are repaired by the Fire Departments mechanics. Commissioner Matsuda questioned the procedure involved with issuing a fireworks permit. Assistant Chief Mento stated that the interested individual would fill out a form and present it to the Fire Departments personnel. At that time, the Fire Departments personnel will collect the individuals payment and issue the permit. 8