2013-05-08 Fire Commission Regular Minutes

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HawaiÒi County Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes May 8, 2013 Page 5 Ocean Safety: The biggest thing is that the budget calls for two additional Water Safety Officers for PunaluÓu and the Jet Ski Program which will not happen in this fiscal year. The Jet Ski Program has about a $180,000 startup cost which includes salaries. Safety Committee: The committee continues to meet. He responded to their concerns. SUPPORT SERVICES DIVISION EMS Bureau: They continue to be involved in the community. They just completed the annual HawaiÒi HMS Information System (HEMSIS) Conference which was held in Keauhou. It is put on by the State but they assisted. Their crew did a remarkable job of putting on the conference. They showcased what they could do as a fire based EMS. They took the entire conference onto the luau lawn of the Sheraton Resort. They did two simultaneous alarms Î a swimmer in distress and an onlooker who fell from a cliff. They did rescues for both victims. This was very well received by the conference attendees. Commissioner De Luz stated that they need to show the Council and the public that they are a multi-functional department. Chair Taniguchi stated that not only do they do fire, rescue, water safety and EMS, they are the only county in the state with a volunteer contingent. Chief Rosario stated that in his initial budget hearing, he talked for about an hour on what the Fire Department does. Chief Rosario further reported that 14 fire fighter recruits are finishing up the clinical phase of EMT training. North HawaiÒi Community Hospital was officially deemed a Level III Trauma Center. This means they will stabilize a trauma victim before being shipped to Queens Hospital. st Training Bureau: The 41 recruit class will finish this week. They will start their nd 42 recruit class on May 1. Volunteer Training Bureau: Volunteer Fire Chief Krug reported that with the dry weather, they are starting to get brush fires, especially in Hawaiian Paradise Park and Paauilo. They received 5 engines from the California Division of Forestry. The garage checked them out. Four have gone out, and one is still being worked on. Their next captainsÓ meeting will be on Saturday, June 15, at 10:00 a.m., at the Central Station training room. They will be attempting to address problems with their pagers. The meeting will be hosted by the PepeÓekeo Krug further reported that they have 250-275 volunteers. They are regular folks who are willing to go out day and night to help the fire department.