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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-01-26 Fire Commission Minutes HAWAII FIRE COMMISSION REGULAR SESSION MINUTES JANUARY 26, 2023 HAWAII COUNTY BUILDING, COUNCIL CHAMBERS 25 AUPUNI ST., SUITE 1401, HILO, HI CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL Chair Kosaki called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Present: Gerald Kosaki, Chair Gregory Henkel, Commissioner Corey Luke, Commissioner Shon Magsalin, Commissioner Wesley Mattos, Commissioner Gene Nakashima, Commissioner Carlene Wolf, Commissioner A quorum was present. Absent: Benjamin Agdeppa, Vice Chair Also present: Kazuo Todd, Fire Chief Eric Moller, Deputy Fire Chief John Bertsch, Assistant Chief Suzanna Tiapula, Deputy Corporation Counsel Charisse Correa, Secretary PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON AGENDA ITEMS (None) APPROVAL OF MINUTES Commissioner Henkel motioned to approve the regular and executive session minutes of December 7, 2022. Commissioner Wolf seconded, no discussion, it carried unanimously, and the minutes were approved. NEW BUSINESS • Nomination and vote for Chair and Vice Chair of the Fire Commission. Chair Kosaki opened it up for any nominations. ➢ Commissioner Wolf stated she would like to see Gerald Kosaki continue as Chair and nominated him. Commissioner Nakashima seconded with no discussion. Ms. Correa called the vote: Commissioner Henkel: aye, Commissioner Luke: aye, Commissioner Magsalin: aye, Commissioner Mattos: aye, Commissioner Nakashima: aye, Commissioner Wolf: aye. The motion carried. Chair Kosaki reported that the County Council confirmed his reappointment to the Fire Commission for another five years. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes January 26, 2023 Page 2 ➢ Commissioner Mattos nominated Commissioner Wolf as Vice Chair. Commissioner Henkel seconded with no discussion. Ms. Correa called the vote: Commissioner Henkel: aye, Commissioner Luke: aye, Commissioner Magsalin: aye, Commissioner Mattos: aye, Commissioner Nakashima: aye, Chair Kosaki: aye. The motion carried. FIRE CHIEF'S REPORT Chief Todd highlighted items from the December 2022 Fire Chief's Report. A detailed report is on file. • Highlights: HFD recently ordered Raspberry Pi computers, which are cheap computers for the purpose of having screens in admin that can display data. The first one is currently in his office which shows his calendar off a system called DAKboard. He explained that part of his goal as fire chief is to be transparent. He wants his calendar to be visible to staff. It will eventually be mounted into one of the windows in his office, so staff walking by the office can see where he is if he isn't in. Chief Todd noted a change to the report's format. He explained his previous secretary, Leanne Kapahu retired and introduced his new private secretary, Lauren Williamson, who put the report together. The Mauna Loa eruption is pretty much done, HFD had EMS stand by during this event. Chief officers participated in the inaugural ceremony held at the Civic Auditorium in December and witnessed the swearing-in of the new County Council members. There were a variety of community holiday events that occurred in December, such as the Mayor's Red Kettle Breakfast and Magic of the Season. • Hawaii Fire Chief's Association Conference: They brought in training for the conference, and there were a variety of people such as retired Chief Bobby Halton, Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell from the US Fire Administration, Derek Alkonis and Major General Joseph Ryan, among other well-known speakers. The entire department was invited to come by and listen in. They incorporated chief-level training and discussions, as well as a variety of lower-rank discussions for firefighters, etc. The conference ran HFD approximately a quarter million dollars, but this was all external from the Fire Department and not in the normal budget. He explained you won't see any reports on this because it was entirely external. Chair Kosaki asked if any commissioners had the opportunity to attend the conference. No commissioners attended. Chief Todd stated it was open, and if you wanted to partake in the meals, it was $650. He explained that he didn't want to change things, this has been the setup for the conference for as long as he's been in the Fire Department. They took the same plan going forward and did the same thing. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes January 26, 2023 Page 3 Now that he's done it the way it's always been done, there's a good chance, the next time they host the chief's conference, they're going to go in a different direction. Budget: Salaries are projected to be about 5% over by the end of the year. They will probably adjust the minimum staffing temporarily for the end of the year. It's within their ability to adjust and redirect and by the end of the year, they should be in line. Raises kicked in summer time, and they need to retro everyone's salaries, but it's not factored into their current budget. HFD currently has only seven dispatchers and may be losing another during the summer. They're currently communicating with HFFA, HGEA, as well as DHR about placing firefighters in dispatch. That also means they would be pulling potentially eight firefighters off the line. The basic layout has gone to DHR, they approved it and are now waiting for HFFA and HGEA. The model is based on Honolulu fire dispatchers' who are firefighters and run a similar schedule. This will be temporary until they can get enough HGEA employees trained and discontinue this program. Chair Kosaki confirmed that this will be on an interim basis or emergency basis until HFD can get more dispatchers. Chief Todd stated yes, firefighters go through a year of training and understand their process, but a problem with new dispatchers is that they know nothing about the department, and takes about a year for them to get up to speed. The plus of taking a firefighter and having them be a dispatcher is that they've already gotten most of the training, they just need to learn the computer system. The turnaround time to take a firefighter and train them to use that computer and put them in dispatch is a lot faster, they estimate two months of computer training. Commissioner Mattos asked if this will be voluntary. Chief Todd stated initially it will be voluntary, depending on how many people are interested. He explained the schedule and everything else will match Honolulu's and Honolulu has a waiting list of guys interested in working in dispatch. Chief Todd stated this could also potentially throw salaries and wages off because it's not in the budget. On the Ocean Safety side of the State funding, HFD is still not allowed to purchase equipment, but he went to the legislature last week Thursday. He met with the Kauai Fire Department's Chief, the finance chair, the majority leader, and everyone who represents our island. He planted a lot of seeds and is hopeful that some of the things they spoke about happen. • Alternative Funding & Grants: Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) federal grant is the same. HFD has another $40K with the USDA, Forest Service, which is a volunteer fire assistance grant. They are still spending down the previous year's grant. HFD also has this year's grant, which is $156K and they're moving ahead with a variety of things. Not mentioned in the report, but he just Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes January 26, 2023 Page 4 received a phone call from the Mayor, HFD will be getting $370K for CDBG. Also, in front of the Council the other day, the PVG funds were reallocated to HFD. The Assistance to Firefighters Grant has been approved, and HFD received a federal grant award of $494,900, with a County match of$49,490. This grant will be used to purchase and install washers/extractors and dryers. These machines are designed not to ruin firefighter's PPE, they need specialized equipment to wash their gear. Chair Kosaki stated it's important to have those extractors at the stations. Firefighters are exposed to a lot of hazardous chemicals while responding to structure fires. Taking it home and washing it with their family's clothing would cause it to spread the hazard to their families. Having these at the stations is much safer, in addition to what the chief said about protecting the PPE. • Personnel Report: ➢ Internal recruitments just closed for Fire EMS Specialist II, Fire Rescue Specialist, and Fire/Hazardous Material Specialist. The Fire/EMS recruit position has been created, they are in the process of getting the position numbers assigned through DHR, and will open and do an early hire for this position. Chief Todd explained that he's trying to create two pathways into the department; one for paramedics and the other for firefighters. Firefighter joins the department as a firefighter recruit and the paramedic can join as a Fire/EMS recruit. Chair Kosaki wanted to know how it was going with HR. Chief Todd stated the positions were approved by County Council, they are now waiting for DHR to assign position numbers, and then they will open for recruitment. Chair Kosaki asked when they come in as a paramedic, are they going to get trained as firefighters also? Chief Todd stated yes. Chair Kosaki asked as they move up the rank, can they cross over to the fire side and become a fire captain? Chief Todd stated they have been communicating with DHR regarding this for 9 months. Currently, the job of firefighter says that you need one year as a firefighter recruit. Fire/EMS recruit is not a firefighter recruit, it's a different position, so you're not eligible to be a firefighter. However, the job of Fire Rescue Specialist, Fire Hazmat Specialist, or FEO, none of these positions says that you need to have been a firefighter. It just says you need a certain amount of years within the department. He's been communicating with DHR regarding this, the mayor has been mediating some of these meetings and currently, the lawyers are involved. They are continuing on with these discussions. Independent of that, he's still moving ahead with the hiring because at a minimum it will take a year before they're able to move around anyway. Chief Todd stated another thing he's working on and one of the things he was talking with the legislature about is adding six paramedic positions. He'd like to take Kailua Fire Station and Central Fire Station and go from three paramedics up to six. He further explained that these are the two busiest stations on the island, so having a second paramedic would be useful and is critical. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes January 26, 2023 Page 5 Commissioner Mattos said going back to the argument regarding Fire/EMS, the problem is that they come in as a paramedic, and they get a ranking, whereas a firefighter, their alternative is to get promoted to FEO. All the time that they're on the job, they're TAing into the engine, but they don't get any points, but when they take the test, the FMS guy who has no time on the engine gets points. Chief Todd stated he understands and agrees. He further explained it's difficult because making any major changes requires a union consult. One of the issues is with the point system, which is entirely based on ease of math because it's easier to add everything up in the end. The reality is, do you think a Fire Rescue Specialist, Fire Hazmat specialist, or Fire Medical Specialist is getting twice the experience as a firefighter? Not really, but does he think they should get some additional points for doing harder, more challenging work and having more knowledge? He does. The same argument applies to Hazmat and Rescue, they get extra points because they have extra knowledge. It's a mixture of different aspects, it's something he would like to address and open up for a conversation with the union, but he hasn't had the time. Chair Kosaki asked what about allocating some points to people who TA as drivers etc. Chief Todd stated it would be entirely fair, he agrees with the concept but has no idea how they would account for TA times. He further explained one of the thoughts thrown out there was a cap. If you're going for FEO there's a cap of 24 points from T&E, you could get it through education, or a position. Other opportunities would be offered to get points such as attending the National Fire Academy or passing a course, etc. Commissioner Magsalin asked if paramedics make more money than firefighters. Chief Todd stated potentially, the paramedic is one of the positions in the department where if you want to work, you could probably make more money than anyone else. There are paramedics in the department that make more than the chief. Commissioner Magsalin asked if he sees more females applying for the paramedic position. Chief Todd stated he doesn't have exact numbers, but in his opinion, there seems to be a higher percentage of women who are interested in going to the paramedic side than men. They currently only have eight women in the department. He's hopeful that having this other route encourages more women to join the department. He feels the department has to change and grow and deal with the times that are today. One of the big pushes was to split the budget, where the EMS money isn't under Fire. The Fire Department is a combination of four departments; a volunteer dept., a fire dept., an EMS dept., and an ocean safety dept. and he wants all these departments funded appropriately. Chair Kosaki stated that fire-based EMS is very valuable. Throughout history, it has been shown to be important in many instances where a firefighter who is a paramedic can provide help. If it's separated it would be no different from Maui, Oahu, and Kauai where they have private ambulances. Chief Todd stated to clarify, Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes January 26, 2023 Page 6 that's not his intention, every single person will be fully trained. HFD is a Fire, EMS, and Ocean Safety based department, it's always going to be one department, he'll never split the departments permanently where EMS has one uniform and are only required to have EMS skills. Chief Todd stated the current system is making it hard to get paramedics, so maybe they can encourage other people who are interested, but they still need to be qualified firefighters. Chair Kosaki stated he agrees and suggested not separating it too much where they forget that there is a valuable resource in having paramedics going to fires or rescues and treating people. Chief Todd stated externally on a budgetary side he wants HFD to be looked at as four different programs. Internally he wants HFD to be considered one department, he would also like to see close tie- ins with Ocean Safety personnel in the future. ➢ Open Recruitments: Chief Todd reported there are approximately 20 people lined up for the firefighter recruit position; 10 with a conditional offer and 10 alternatives. DHR referred 50 names for Fire Communications Officers, but only 11 showed up for interviews. They are moving to fill accountant positions. They have an Accountant IV, are creating an Accountant III position, and are looking to fill three Account I positions. They filled two Clerk III positions (EMS Bureau and Administration). They're still working on the Clerk III interviews (Auxiliary Services Bureau). Open recruitment for Water Safety Officer I positions opened on January 1, 2023, and closed on January 10, 2023. ➢ Classifications: The Storekeeper position was reallocated to Program Support Technician effective September 1, 2022. One Fire Fighter position was reallocated to Fire/EMS Specialist I effective January 1, 2023. • Total Calls for Service (CY 2022): HFD ended the year with a total of 29,594 calls. • Turn-Out Times (CY 2022): Chief Todd referred to the report and stated as they started to put out the stats, they've been seeing an increase in turn-out times, and it's been improving. • Fire Impacts (CY 2022): A total of 18,269 acres burned for the year. Most of this was from the fire that started on PTA land and then moved down into state land, above Waikoloa. There was a total of 716 fires (all other 100 series) such as cooking fires, something smoking, and a variety of other issues. Recess was called at 10:03 a.m., the meeting reconvened at 10:14 a.m. • Highlights: On December 1, 2022, a boat capsized at four corners, and Chopper 1 was able to extract them. On December 21, 2022, at Wai`olena Beach there were scuba divers in distress due to high surf, all divers were retrieved utilizing Chopper Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes January 26, 2023 Page 7 1, with no injuries or fatalities. There were small brush fires, nothing that really transitioned, but were suspicious, investigators responded. On December 16, 2022, there was a missing hiker, who was located in Manuka. On December 19, 2022, there was an aircraft emergency with right-side hydraulic failure, they landed with no major issues. There was a recent incident where a fisherman went missing, but that will be on next month's report. Chair Kosaki wanted to know if HFD helped with the search for the missing fisherman because he was four miles out. Chief Todd stated they assisted with no positive findings. Chair Kosaki asked isn't the policy one mile? Chief Todd explained three miles, anything outside of three miles is Coast Guard. The Coast Guard did deploy to this as well. It is a little far out for HFD, their boats aren't in the best condition, and they are in the process of repairing them. Chair Kosaki asked if HFD personnel went through CISD after responding to the tragic incident involving the Takamines. Chief Todd stated he believes it was offered, but he doesn't know if they went through CISM or not. Generally, after a major incident such as that, CISM is activated and they bring personnel in, it happens throughout the year. He will double-check and get back to him regarding this particular incident. • Special Operations: ➢ HazMat: They are currently doing their HazMat tech training. This is an ongoing class to get new Haz-Techs. Chair Kosaki asked if the HazMat grant is paying for this. Chief Todd explained the instructor side of it is being paid for by the grant and the overtime is coming out of their budget. ➢ Ocean Safety: Open recruitment for Water Safety Officer I is set to open in January 2023 with PAE tentatively set for Mid-February. There's one retirement at the end of December, Darren Kaleo Hauanio retired after serving 34 years as a Water Safety Officer with Hawaii County. ➢ Rescue: HFD had its Fire Rescue Promotional Assessment and started receiving donations of rescue equipment from the Daniel R. Sayre Foundation. • Emergency Medical Services Report: They received an additional $1.2 million last year from the state in this year's budget, which is why the budget is higher. They're in the process of picking up seven ambulances. New Panasonic G2 Toughbooks have been deployed to all medic units. The new laptops now have the ability to receive EKG data directly from Lifepak 15 monitors and assist with populating patient care reports. EMS Branch personnel participated in a Hawaii Life Flight crew sunset vigil in Hilo and Kona. This vigil was held in memory of the three personnel who were involved in the tragic aeromedical incident that occurred. The Hilo Medical Center Foundation will be donating three LUCAS compression devices to HFD. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes January 26, 2023 Page 8 These compression devices will be assigned to Medics 6, 8, and 18. The EMS Branch will be on standby for this year's KWXX Downtown Ho'olaule`a. This event is expected to attract approximately 19,000 people and is scheduled for this Saturday. • Training Services: The 51 st recruit class graduated on the 16t", at Nani Mau. For the last few recruit classes, they have been doing co-training with ARFF (State Airport Rescue Fire Fighting teams). They have been sharing training resources and trainers. They also have good relations with PTA, all the live fire burns were done at PTA. The 51 st recruits supported and attended the Hawaii Fire Chief's Conference. The class attended presentations from fire service giants such as Chiefs Rick Lasky, Bobby Halton, and Derek Alkonis. The class was amongst the last to hear Chief Halton speak prior to his untimely passing two days later. They recorded his final speeches, which will eventually be on YouTube, when he gets those videos, he will pass them on to the commission. They're working to tie their vector solutions in with drill reports, which would facilitate more accurate data and analysis of company drill activities. At the moment there isn't a current recruit class. The next class will start around June, they have a meeting tomorrow to finalize hiring decisions. In the meantime, BC Springer is working to deploy training to the stations. Chair Kosaki wanted to know if Fire Commissioners are usually invited to the recruit graduation. Chief Todd stated he believes it has been a thing of the past. He didn't think about inviting other people but will look into it. He further explained there has been a lot of personnel who moved positions within the department, and it kind of got lost in the shuffle. Chair Kosaki stated he believes it's usually the recruit training officer who ensures invitations go out. Chief Todd stated he will let them know that the Fire Commission would like to be invited to future events. Moving forward, his secretary will be involved and will make sure invites go out. • Volunteer Report: Assistant Chief John Bertsch reported that they have been progressing rapidly under the new administration with regard to getting the volunteers more integrated and looped into the program. They have been seeing a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and excitement that is translating to the ability for them to recruit and retain people out in the field and to improve some of the facilities that the volunteers are housed in and the equipment. He invited the Fire Commission to the next quarterly captains' meeting scheduled for February 25, 2023, in Waimea, at Station 9-Bravo. He stated he will email Ms. Correa with details for distribution to commissioners. Training the volunteers is an important aspect and a huge focus for them in 2023, which includes a more manageable curriculum. He thanked Chief Chadwick and Chief Springer for putting a tremendous amount of time and effort into developing the curriculum that they'll be moving forward with and rolling out in 2023. Chair Kosaki asked where the meeting will be held in Waimea. AC Bertsch stated it will be in Waimea, at Station 9-Bravo, Anekona, about eight minutes makai of Waimea. They'll send a map with directions. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes January 26, 2023 Page 9 Assistant Chief Bertsch further reported one of the biggest issues they currently face is the ability to track the individual certifications of volunteers across the board. They don't have access to the same software programs that the career side has. They're looking at correcting that through the grant funding that the chief was able to provide them and are currently in negotiations with the vector solutions group to find out what it would cost to roll all the volunteers into this program. • Fire Prevention: Chief Todd reported Firefighter John Requelman and Fire Hazardous Materials Specialist GaryAhu Jr. were promoted to Fire Inspector I on December 1st. The Fire Prevention Branch investigated two structure fires during the month of December. The fires were located in Districts 10 and 18. They also investigated a vehicle fire in District 6 involving Medic 7 (M7), which caught on fire while transporting a patient to the hospital. There were no injuries to EMS personnel and the patient. The fire originated from the engine compartment area, and M7 was towed to the mechanic shop. They had about 136 hours this month in plan reviews, with 29 hours being spent on inspections, testing, meetings, etc. leaving 107 hours dedicated to plan reviews. There were 40 plans reviewed with an average time of 2.6 hours spent on each plan. The Fire Prevention Branch conducted 12 public education presentations during the month. They got the 2018 NFPA 1 Fire Code passed, it went in front of the Hawaii County Council. He also got the 2021 Code finished at the State Fire Council, this version is now at the State Building Code Council and should become the State Code here shortly thereafter, at which time they'll start a whole new cycle to move from 2018 to 2021. • Auxiliary Services: They are continuing on with their emergency communications center's challenges. They had some power issues and are looking at a major overhaul of some of their IT systems, which will take down their ability to do dispatching on some of the systems within dispatch. Interviews were scheduled for FCO I after completing the job preview presentation. Out of the initial 50 applicants, they have 11 scheduled interviews. The warehouse storekeeper continues to make improvements to both the online store and organizing the warehouse. They caught up with their records requests. Clerk L. Labrador and Firefighter La`a have done a great job organizing and reviewing the record requests, and they are now up to date with all requests. For their apparatus and equipment repair area, they did 80 total repairs/services, 24 service calls, and contracted eight events out. • Matters of Interest to the Commission: Chief Todd stated he has a couple more things to discuss that are not in the report. He reported that they are changing their uniforms. DCC Tiapula asked if this is on the agenda. Chair Kosaki stated it is not on the agenda. She asked if it was related to something that was in the report. Chief Todd explained it would be the Fire Chief reporting on things, 30% of the things discussed aren't specifically mentioned in the report. DCC Tiapula stated as much as possible, Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes January 26, 2023 Page 10 it should be in the report, but if it's related to things in the report that's fine. Chair Kosaki stated it's related to the report. Chief Todd reported that uniforms are going to change, they will be fire-resistant, and he signed off on that already. He will be going to the mainland for 9-1-1 Goes to Washington at the end of February and won't be able to attend the volunteer meeting. While in Washington, he plans to contact their federal representatives regarding funding and make those connections. Commissioner Magsalin asked if the chief's speech at the recruit graduation could be found online. Chief Todd stated it isn't but he can send it to Ms. Correa for distribution. He asked if she was asking for a video or a written speech. Commissioner Magsalin stated a video would be better. Chief Todd stated he will see what he can find. They have a video that was put together by their training staff of the recruits, it will be posted online and forwarded to the commission. Chair Kosaki asked Chief Todd if he was able to look at all the Fire Commission meeting dates for 2023 to see if there are any conflicts. Chief Todd stated he will be absent in April due to a conference and in May he will be at the National Fire Academy. All the other dates scheduled don't currently conflict with anything. Chair Kosaki stated he has a conflict in March and July. He asked the commission if they would like to change the dates for these meetings or have Vice Chair Wolf run the meetings during his absence and have Chief Moller give the chief's report in April and May. Commissioner Henkel suggested using the chain of command, as it strengthens the whole system. He suggested keeping the scheduled dates and the commission agreed. Chief Todd stated he will send his calendar to Ms. Correa showing all his travel plans, conferences, and training that he needs to attend. EXECUTIVE SESSION (CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC) Commissioner Magsalin motioned to meet in executive session to consider complaints against employees of the fire department, where matters affecting privacy will be involved and for the purpose of consulting with the commission's attorney on questions and issues pertaining to the commission's powers, duties, privileges, immunities, and liabilities pursuant to HRS Sections 92-5, (a)(2)(4)(6) and the Hawaii County Charter 13- 20 (b). Commissioner Luke seconded, no discussion, and it carried unanimously. Executive session convened at 10:53 a.m. Commissioner Henkel left the meeting at 10:53 a.m. Motion to reconvene open session made by Commissioner Nakashima, seconded by Vice Chair Wolf, and it carried unanimously, open session reconvened at 11:27 a.m. Hawaii Fire Commission Regular Session Minutes January 26, 2023 Page 11 ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Kosaki announced the commission's next monthly meeting is scheduled for February 23, 2023, at 9:00 a.m., at the West Hawaii Civic Center, Building A, Council Chambers, 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Kailua-Kona, HI. DCC Tiapula reported that DCC Keyra Wong will be attending the Kona meetings. Commissioner Mattos asked if it's appropriate for commissioners to visit their district's stations and question personnel about their opinions on leadership and administration. DCC Tiapula stated she will do research and report back to the commission. Chair Kosaki stated in the past, commissioners would visit the stations and dispatch. He feels it's good for them to get information outside of what the chief reports to them. Commissioner Mattos feels if the commission speaks to personnel, they'll be more open and honest with them about their views and opinions. DCC Tiapula stated a general visit to the station is ok. It's the questioning of employees that she's concerned about. She will research this and will provide a response for the commission in executive session. Commissioner Magsalin asked if they can ask for a copy of the deputy's evaluation or ask that the chief share it with them. Chair Kosaki asked if it was confidential. DCC Tiapula stated it would be in executive session and that she would research this and will provide an answer for the commission at the next meeting. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 11:31 a.m. SUBMITTED BY: CHARISSE CORREA, SECRETARY APPROVED BY: GERALD KOSAKI, CHAIR