HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0521.005 2002-2004 Dear Congressman Ed Case,
Your visit to Naalehu closely follows a recent meeting of the Volunteer Fire
Chiefs Association in which federal recognition and funding was discussed. We
would like to bring to your attention the current status of firefighting on the Big
Island.
The Big Island, due to its physical size, economic isolation and predominance
of rural agricultural land is vastly underserved in fire suppression services. When
concerned citizens in various local communities recognized that the regular fire
department was understaffed and engine response time was beyond standards set
by national homeowners insurance, a volunteer force was established. The
County of Hawaii Fire Department, already financially and task saturated, supports
the volunteer firefighting departments with training, truck and equipment
maintenance, and willing acceptance of assistance at fire and emergency incidents
island-wide.
Of major concern at this time are the following fire departments who have no
actual physical structure or station to store firefighting vehicles ("apparatus", in the
official lingo) and could use federal financial aid to correct this situation:
Fern Acres VFD Paauilo VFD
Kona Paradise VFD Pahala VFD _ ~iT
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Milolii VFD Puuanahulu VFD c~,~ v c~~~n~~'
Naalehu VFD r=~~p.
Given a proper storage facility, the increased parts expense and effort to
maintain vehicles damaged by daily UV and salt air effects would be almost totally
eliminated. Compounding that, the Hawaii County Fire Department has limited
manning to perform regular maintenance upon any vehicles operated by a
volunteer station. Most volunteer stations maintain the vehicles assigned to them
with parts provided by the much over-tasked chief of maintenance for the County
of Hawaii Fire Department. He has limited space and personnel, and cannot
stretch to maintain volunteer fire department vehicles under the umbrella of the
County Fire Department. A quick trip to the Hilo maintenance facility will confirm
that the best option for volunteer vehicle maintenance is to do the work "in house",
with parts obtained (with chain-of-command approval) from the County of Hawaii
Fire Department vehicle maintenance shop.
Further financial assistance in the form of providing vehicles or replacing older
vehicles is also a major concern. Two stations, Milolii and Puuanahulu have no fire
engine whatsoever (merely small brush trucks) while the following stations have
vehicles in extremely bad condition due to age (most late sixties with Naalehu
having an early 1970's):
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Discovery Harbor VFD Naalehu VFD
Hawaiian Beaches VFD Pahala VFD
Kalaoa VFD
Your attention to this matter would be greatly appreciated by the members of the
Big Island local volunteer fire departments, and by the general population whom
we assist.
Making a difference,
The Big Island Volunteer Fire Department Chiefs Anssociation
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volca novolunCeers@hotmad.com Pnnted: Monday, February 1E, 2004 5:12 AM
From : Ken Honma <ken_honma@hotmail.com>
Sent : Sunday, February 15, 2004 7:13 PM
To : volcanovolunteers@hotmail.com
Subject : Support for Hawaii County Fire Department Proposed Budget
Date: February, 15, 2009
To: Hawaii County Finance Department
From: Cooper Center Council, Volcano Hawaii
Subject: County of Hawaii Fire Department Proposed Budget.
The Cooper Center in Volcano has been actively providing support for the area residents by
helping to make possible the exisitence of the volunteer fire department in Volcano. The
Cooper Center is a focal point of activity within the Volcano area through its recreational
programs and fundraising activities. The members of the Cooper Center Council would like to
urge you to support the Hawaii County Fire Department's proposed budget.
We realize that these are lean times and that you need to make every effort to make sure that
monies are spent wisely. All communities, especially rural areas like Volcano depend on
effective emergency services, like medical, and fire for their safety and security. We are
fortunate in Volcano to have within the community a dependable group of volunteer fire-fighters
that so generously devote their time for training and preparedness activities. we in Volcano
breathe easier because of our volunteer fire-department and we would ].i ke to help ensure that
they have all of the proper equipment, and training affordable.
Please support the proposed budget.
Thank you for allowing the opportunity to voice our concerns.
Kenneth T. Honma
President, Cooper Center Council
http://Iw9fd.law9.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/getmsg?culTnbox=F000000001 &a=54c89da95c... 2/15/2004