Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014 Chief's Report for May MeetingCHIEF’S REPORT (05/07/2014) I. Budget • FY 2013/2014 • FY 2014/2015 II. Alternative Funding and Grant • FY 2012 Assistance to Fire Fighters Prevention Grant Application • FY 2013 CDBG Grant for Waiakea Quint o Pre-construction meeting held and Apparatus is in Production Phase o ETA August 1, 2014 • Capital Improvement Projects o Kawailani Fire Station Replacement o Fire Communications Center ▪ Joint project with HPD III. Goals and Objectives update IV. Human Resources Division 1) Recruitments a) Open-competitive recruitments • Water Safety Officer I (Temp) – Recruitment to be conducted May 11- 20, 2014. Targeted hire date is June 1, 2014. 2) Classification a) 42nd Fire Fighter Recruit Class will be reallocated to Fire Fighter (Temp) positions effective May 1, 2014. 1) Currently assigned to 24-hour station assignments 3) Employee Relations a) Bargaining Unit 11 retro-active pay adjustments will be paid on June 15, 2014. b) Hawai‘i Employer-Union Trust Fund (EUTF) Open Enrollment conducted from April 7 – May 2, 2014 for benefit coverage effective July 1, 2014. V. Emergency Operations Division OPERATIONS: 1) On April 2 and 10, multi-company drills were executed covering Aerial Ladder Operations. Present were CO’s 7, 9, 14, 16, BC2, Training Division and recruits. 2) 11 personnel attended the California, Nevada, Hawai‘i Wildland Fire Conference at the Waikoloa Marriott from April 9-11. 3) Worked with CD in finalizing the Makani Pahili Hurricane preparedness drill slated for June 4. HFD will do search and rescue techniques using various disciplines in different settings such as wildland, confined space, ladder extrication, and high angle search and rescue. Exercise to be held at the KMR training area in Hilo. 4) Newly trained Fireground Survival instructor’s taught their first class to the current Firefighter Recruit class on April 22-23. 5) 15 personnel completed the Chemistry part of the Hazardous Materials Technician training. The Tactical Operations portion will take place May 5-16. SPECIAL OPERATIONS: a. Ocean Safety 1) We have completed an assessment for the summer temp hires but only one person accepted the position. We will be conducting a new recruitment in May. Currently, we have only one vacant half time permanent position in west Hawai‘i; 2) HB1024 was amended to cover our lifeguards for three more years. a. On Governor Abercrombie’s desk for review. 3) We are awaiting the arrival of 5 new surveyor type lifeguard towers to replace the current wooden towers in east Hawai‘i. We still need to work on the necessary permits and the logistical issues in erecting these towers. 4) Addressed concerns from our lifeguards at Kahaluu beach who made a complaint about safety issues. We met with the HIOSH inspector and made changes based on his recommendations. b. Rescue 1) We have received contingency funds from some Council members to purchase more equipment and supplies for the Project Lifesaver program. Upon this procurement, we will continue to address those clients who are on the waiting list. 2) We had a gifting ceremony for the Sayre Foundation to acknowledge and thank all of the donors who contribute to the foundation. We showcased and identified many of the equipment purchased by the Sayre Foundation. 3) Continuing to work with the Sayre Foundation to ensure that all of the equipment requested has been procured. We have already put this requested equipment through resolution. c. Hazmat 1) We are looking into upgrading our equipment to identify unknown materials including explosives and also equipment that uses spectrometry. Our current equipment is rapidly becoming obsolete. Due to the high cost of these items, we are looking toward alternative funding sources. Civil Defense Administrator Darryl Oliveira has stated that there may be money in the DHS grants that they received. 2) We are working to repair equipment for our hazmat teams; the Hazmat/Sensir ID, QRae repair and reconfiguration, and Thermo Imager upgrade. We need to also purchase more radiation equipment to endure our monitoring capabilities. 3) We established a response protocol for HFD response to PGV incidents. We will be conducting a drill to establish strategic locations when deploying our Area Raes for monitoring when responding to a possible chemical release. VI. Support Services Division TRAINING BUREAU: 1) We held Graduation Ceremonies for our 42nd Fire Fighter Recruit class on Saturday April 12, 2014 at the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel Luau Grounds. All Recruits have successfully completed all phases of the Fire Fighter Recruit Program, and pending documentation of their State EMT Licenses they are scheduled to be reallocated to Fire Fighters on May 1, 2014. 2) John Pimentel (UHH CVE Student Intern) continues to work in the Training Bureau and is scheduled to continue and utilize the full term of the program which is until June 15, 2014. He’s assisting with clerical duties in the office and has been a valuable asset thus far. We hope to get a full-time clerical position for the Training Bureau in the future to help them mitigate the work load there. 3) Our department is currently hosting another Hazardous Materials Technician Course. The first segment (Chemistry for Emergency Responders) was held from April 6-18, 2014 and the second segment (Hazardous Materials for First Responders- Tactics) is scheduled for May 5-16, 2014. We have 16 of our personnel being trained. 4) The Training Bureau Staff received their new laptop computers which will provide them access to all of their computer needs from many of our county facilities and more. This not only allows our trainers to be able to access Training Materials and Documents from almost any remote training site when they are out of the office, but also gives them the opportunity to provide real time data/information at meetings/planning sessions which increases theirs and essentially our departments’ efficiency and eliminates redundancy. 5) The Training Bureau is currently preparing for our upcoming 43rd Fire Fighter Recruit Class that is tentatively scheduled for June 16, 2014. We are looking to hire 25 recruits. VOLUNTEER TRAINING: 1) Finishing up CPR/AED training for Volunteer companies. 2) Integrate training with Vol. Co. 5-B/5-D with Co-5 “A” on April 2, 2014. Also at training was BC-1A Sumida. 3) Receipt of BT-17A from the Avalon Fire Dept. in California. 4) In the process of moving our office to Pepeekeo Vol. Station. As of now internet is connected. We are awaiting phone service. 5) Aloha to Volunteer Capt. Wayne Krug (17-A). We thanked him for the many years (18) of dedicated service EMS BUREAU: 1) Senate Bill 2348 requesting State funding for two additional ambulances in the districts of Puna and Makalei made it to the final hour. Our HFD team made a valiant effort up to the final day of conference putting together alternative proposals reducing the overall start up and recurring costs. Unfortunately the Bill did die in conference. 2) Our first proactive non emergent home visit was done on March 31st. An identified high volume user who called 911 seven times in a 48 hour span and 38 times over a one year period was seen at his home. The visit focused on connecting the patient to the appropriate agencies and services as well as public education. Subsequent to this proactive visit, this person didn’t call 911 for twelve days. A Multi Disciplinary Team led by Hilo Medical Center will be meeting at the end of this month to discuss what more can be done to connect this person with appropriate services, minimizing the impact to our 911 system and the Emergency Room. 3) Pre-hospital Stroke Activation protocols with Hilo Medical Center (HMC) have officially started in the month of April. The Los Angeles Pre-hospital Stroke Scale (LAPSS) has been identified by the Statewide Stroke Task Force as the pre-hospital screening mechanism to be used to initiate Stroke Activations. HMC had 110 Stroke Activations this year, 77 of which were activated by EMS with 90% accuracy. Kona Hospital and North Hawai‘i Community Hospital are both looking at establishing similar protocols. 4) In regards to our Resuscitation Academy (Seattle Fire Dept) action items: we presented to MD FitzGerald our interest in implementing High Performance CPR (HP CPR) protocols for HFD. MD FitzGerald was very excited about HP CPR and our plan to improve cardiac arrest survival rates. Several components have been identified as gaps within our system resulting in poor cardiac arrest survival rates. One of which is how First Responders inclusive of our BLS and ALS teams do CPR. 5) In line with our Hands Only CPR program and Community Outreach, the HFD Hands Only CPR marketing video was filmed on April 17th on Oahu. Tony Silva of “DA Braddahs” and his crew did 6 hrs of video footage to produce our 3 min Hands Only video and a 30 sec PSA that will be aired on their program. Funding for this video production was provided through partnerships with Queens Heart, Hawai‘i Heart Foundation, The Greg Cameron Firemen’s Fund, and HFD. 6) Another action item post our Seattle visit was to look at our current dispatching times and call processing. AC Honda facilitated a meeting amongst the EMS Bureau, FCC and FASO to discuss call taking and dispatching procedures. Best practices and dispatching standards, as well as potential areas for improvements will be researched and implemented in the very near future. PREVENTION BUREAU: 1) Captain Kazuo Todd attended the first two weeks of the Hazardous Materials Technician class. 2) A/BC Robert Perreira attended the International Association of Arson Investigator’s Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. This conference was paid for by the IAAI as A/BC Perreira is the current Hawai‘i Chapter President. This conference offered valuable training in the fire investigation field. 3) Fire Prevention Inspectors Kyle Vares and Palani Kurashige attended an Arson Case Management Class in Las Vegas, Nevada. This class gave them much needed training in the fire investigation field. 4) Merrie Monarch standby with over 5,000 in attendance nightly went smoothly with no major issues. 5) 4 fire investigations completed, with the Arson K9 used in 1 incident. DISPATCH: 1) FRD I recruitment: Written Examinations conducted. Preparing Realistic Job Preview. 2) CAD RFP- answer and submittal of questions sent by vendors. 3) Attend 9-1-1 forum- Preparing forNG9-1-1 text compatibility. 4) EMD Q certifications complete. 5) Dispatch working short staffed with OT and long hours; FCS providing dispatch coverage. AUXILLIARY SERVICES/WAREHOUSE 1) Attend Sayre Memorial Ceremony on Apr. 19. Displayed items purchased via Foundation donations at Hapuna State Beach Park. 2) In honor of Dispatch Personnel, luncheon held in observance of National Telecommunications Week April 13-19, 2014. 3) Assist Volunteer Captains in their move to Pepeekeo Station. 4) Supported Fire ground Survival Training. Attend 9-1-1 forum. Preparing for NG9-1-1 text compatibility MAINTENANCE SHOP 1) Maintenance Staff increase, hired Arnold Uehara. 2) Access software installed on Maintenance Shop computer. VPN connectivity has improved. New Projects/Business • Working with Finance Department and the Mayor’s office on upgrades to Ocean Safety Department. Employee/Public Relations • Attended Hilo American Red Cross Hats off Campaign • Attended Kona American Red Cross Hats off Campaign • Attended the Kona Mauka Rotary Meeting as its guest speaker • Attended the Kona Crime Prevention Meeting as its guest speaker • Attended the West Hawai‘i Community forum with Mayor Kenoi • Guest Speaker at the Daniel Sayre Memorial Foundation Gifting Ceremony at the Hāpuna Beach Park • Attended Labor Management Meeting with the Hawai‘i Fire Fighters Association on Oahu along with Deputy Fire Chief Victorino.