2024-05-23 Fire Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes May 23, 2024 Page 3 Kau, not the career station. Chief Todd confirmed and added that Kau already has new vehicles of better quality. Chair Kosaki asked if the AFG Grant covers any vehicle replacements. Chief Todd responded that AFG currently doesn't fund vehicle replacements. He explained their priority-based fleet replacement plan and the procurement process, noting that it used to take one fiscal year to receive an ordered vehicle, but now it takes up to four years. • Personnel Report: Interviews were held for two candidates for Battalion Chief (Emergency Communications) in April. Captain Domingo was promoted to this position as of May 1 st. Sixteen candidates took the written exam for Fire Captain, with seven passing. Interviews and assessment center are pending for the Fire Equipment Operator. One candidate passed the written exam for Fire/Hazardous Material Specialist. Water Safety Officer III interviews were held for ten candidates on April 23-24. DHR referred three names for the Water Safety Officer V position, interviews are pending. Thirteen Fire Communication Officer candidates participated in a realistic job preview in April, with interviews pending. Richard Furtado, Fire Equipment Mechanic was hired on April 3, 2024. There will be an additional vacancy for the West Hawaii mechanic position as of July 1 st. DHR referred 50 names for Water Safety Officer I; 24 candidates showed up, and about 12 passed the assessment. Nine conditional offers and five alternative conditional offers were sent out to candidates for Fire Fighter Recruit. Two conditional offers were sent out for Fire/EMS Recruit (temp). In the HR Branch report, the program budget goals section contains an error. Chief Todd clarified that the intended wording is "less than 30 days," not "greater than 30 days." • Total Calls for Service: In April, there were 2,487 calls, bringing the year-to-date total to 10,225. Fire calls accounted for 3%, while rescue/EMS calls made up 74%. Service calls were 6% and good intent calls comprised 15%. • Emergency Operations: o Battalion 1 (East Hawai'i): There was a structure fire on Kaumana Drive, resulting in a total loss. There was a 120-gallon propane tank that was venting. Another structure fire occurred in Hakalau, where limited access due to bridge closures delayed the response. By the time firefighters arrived, the entire structure had collapsed. Chief Todd mentioned that the 911 system was down during this time, and he has not yet received a report on the cause of the outage. o Battalion 2 (West Hawai'i): There were several relatively small brush fires, affecting areas of/4 acre, '/2 acre, and approximately 2,000 square feet. Fortunately, no homes or property were damaged.