2012-10-10 Fire Commission Regular Minutes

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Hawai‘i County Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes October 10, 2012 Page 3 and approvals need to be done before they occupy them. This project has taken several years. Hpuna Water Safety Tower: The tower is at Station 14, but they are still waiting for legal opinion from Corporation Counsel as to whether they can place the tower on the beach. The intent of the tower was to place a water safety officer overlooking the north end of the beach that fronts the Hpuna Beach Resort. If they were to place it on County/State shared property, it would be right up against the existing tower which would not be feasible. The problem is with easement. Corporation Counsel Ashida will follow up. HUMAN RESOURCES DIVISION Hiring and Promotions: Recruitments are still ongoing. They are now focused on their support services and ocean safety areas. They rank positions for fire operations are nearly 100% completed. EMERGENCY OPERATIONS DIVISION Special Operations Hazmat: Battalion Chief Kosaki, who is part of a joint task force formed by the Mayor’s Office to address the community’s concern with the Puna Geothermal Venture site, attended a Leilani community meeting with Mayor Kenoi, Civil Defense, and PGV personnel. People walked away from the meeting more comfortable about the Fire Department’s capabilities. Rescue: They are looking for a blue link capabilities for their helicopter radio system. This is a low item cost that would allow them to use the helicopter’s headsets to speak directly to a person on a cell phone. Ocean Safety: They continually get requests to formulate an ocean safety jet- ski program. BC Kosaki met with personnel from the Kauai Fire Department who has a very successful ocean safety jet-ski program to get information to present to Council and community members. A jet-ski with the minimum requirement geared for rescue capabilities costs $12,000. According to the Kauai Fire Department, equipment for a safe, successful program would cost about $20,000. The Sayre Foundation has been a proponent to get the jet-ski program going. They support this program, but they have to get out of the financial downturn that the county is at. The most significant thing about the program is training and appropriate manpower. When the jet ski goes out, it should have two people, an operator and a grabber. The Hpuna Beach and Isaac Hale areas would benefit the most. They would have to create new positions, but the Mayor and the Council are not creating new positions. Three lifeguard towers were again vandalized and broken into. However, they had already taken steps to remove the equipment on a daily basis.