2025-08-28 Fire Commission Minutes

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Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes August 28, 2025 Page 6 conducted a flower drop for Captain Whittle's memorial and were deployed for tsunami public announcements and evacuation flights during the tsunami warning. • Highlights, Awards, and Promotions: There was a blessing ceremony in Hilo for four new ambulances, conducted with the assistance of Council Chair Dr. Holeka Inaba., all ambulances are now in service. Accountant III Keiko Furukawa received the Haweo Award for July 2025 in recognition of her exceptional work ethic and technical expertise. A promotional ceremony in Hilo honored five personnel, while a second ceremony scheduled for July 29 in Kona was cancelled due to the tsunami and has not yet been rescheduled. A celebration of life was held at Hapuna Beach for the late Capt. Charley Whittle. Assistant Chief of Operations Okinaka retired after more than 25 years of service with HFD. Recess was called at 10.22 a.m., and the meeting reconvened at 10.36 a.m. Following the Chief's report, commission members asked questions and discussed topics including the 23 VFA grant, purchase and delivery of the tow vehicle, the Radon boat contract, the AC I position, vacancies, the special operations training budget, recruitment rotational assignments, recruit resignations and a smaller candidate pool, operating capital expenditures, issuance of SCBAs, structural mitigation, dispatch vacancies, electronic reporting in Ocean Safety, response and turnout times for day and night hours, and recent commendations and complaints. Chair Kosaki inquired about rescue training. Ocean Safety Chief Bradley Young stated they aim to train as many crew members as possible to maximize rescue watercraft uptime. When asked about the HazTech class, Deputy Volpe noted that a class was held in January with 24 attendees, and the department currently has approximately 40- 45 certified HazTech personnel. NEW BUSINESS Discussion of the Fire Department's watercraft program: Chair Kosaki thanked Chief Young for attending to provide a presentation on the watercraft program. Kosaki noted that the program began in 2015 using jet skis as rescue tools, funded with $320,000 approved by the mayor at that time, to support ocean safety. Since its inception, no new operators have been trained, reducing the number of active operators from nine to three. There has been minimal utilization of jet skis in Hilo due to this lack of trained personnel, with only one ski currently operating for five days in West Hawaii. Chair Kosaki inquired why no training had occurred since 2015. Chief Young explained that the initial plan was to hold a second training class to certify assistant instructors for future in-house classes. However, the plan stalled due to funding issues, including the expiration of a Hawaii Tourism Authority grant. Recently, the department obtained national certification for the program and revamped the in- house training to align with existing aquatics competency standards. The goal is to train