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Page 7 <br />1 you said, we <br />have <br />the <br />largest land mass <br />by far, you <br />2 know, larger <br />than <br />all <br />the other islands <br />combined. <br />3 I will say that even though this department <br />4 here is the second in terms of personnel, second <br />5 largest in the State, in my opinion it's the most <br />6 complex because EMS falls under the fire department <br />7 here, which it does not fall under the fire department <br />8 anywhere else in the State. They have, you know, a <br />9 large prevention program -- they have the aviation <br />10 <br />program. You know, wildland fire <br />here <br />on the west side <br />11 <br />is a bigger problem than anywhere <br />else <br />in the State, as <br />12 <br />evidenced by the fire in Waikoloa <br />here <br />a month or so <br />13 <br />ago that went -- I <br />think it was <br />15- to 17,000 <br />acres, <br />14 <br />somewhere in there, <br />which is the <br />largest fire <br />on the <br />15 island here in quite some time. So, in my opinion, I <br />16 think this fire department is the most complex as far <br />17 as the resources that it has. <br />18 One of the big challenges the fire department <br />19 has is that the County as a whole -- and I know from <br />20 hearing the financial officer speak about it -- the <br />21 <br />County as a <br />whole, generally most <br />organizations, about <br />22 <br />62 percent <br />of their budget goes to <br />salary. In the fire <br />23 <br />department, <br />it's 85 <br />percent, so <br />when there's <br />budget <br />24 <br />cuts made, <br />I mean, <br />there's zero <br />wiggle room <br />in the fire <br />25 <br />department <br />to those <br />budget cuts, <br />so I think <br />that makes <br />ISLAND COURT REPORTING & TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES <br />(808) 933-9800 <br />