LIHU‘E — The county’s Air 1 hangar, located at the Lihu‘e Airport, was deemed “inadequate and unsafe” by auditors in a recent utilization study of the Kaua‘i Fire Department.
“I toured that Air 1 hangar at the airport, and in my mind, that thing should be decommissioned and the aircraft moved out of there as soon as possible,” Emergency Services Consulting International auditor Bill Boyd told the Kaua‘i County Council last week. “I believe it’s a safety issue.”
The facility, as noted in the study, is compromised due to rust throughout the building, which has resulted in holes. A large ceiling light fixture came down earlier this year. Had the helicopter been in the hangar during that event, it would have been damaged.
Discontinuing use of the hangar was named one of the top short-term recommendations from auditors.
“We have been working on replacement plans for the helicopter hangar for quite some time, at least three years that I am aware,” KFD Chief Steven Goble said. “The original plan was to build a suitable hangar on a vacant lot near the current facility but as the plans were being finalized last year there was a dramatic increase in construction cost.”
Currently, the county has plans for a prefabricated tensioned fabric structure that’ll cost around $703,770 to construct, Goble said.
“The contract for design is being finalized at which point the awarded party will produce the plans for the site,” Goble said. “Once the plans are procured, the project will go out for competitive bid for construction.”
Securing a new space to move the hangar has also posed an issue.
Rescue 3, which is housed in the Station 3 Lihu‘e hub, has easy access to the airport and helicopter. Moving the company farther from the airport would increase response time.
“There just isn’t anything available that we’ve come across yet,” Goble said, noting that the department has looked at public, private and commercial spaces. The helicopter often now sits outside, exposed to the elements.
The department currently doesn’t have a training facility, which auditors, too, recommended, in addition to station repairs and improvements, like adding smoke detectors.
Last year, the department had to repair station floors held together with duct tape and the presence of asbestos, a cancer-causing agent that was previously commonly used as insulation.
The study also noted that a station coverage gap between Princeville and Anahola leads to “inordinately long response times and a lack of backup response coverage.” An additional Station 9 to service this area would decrease response times and help with these issues.
Station 2 Kapa‘a should move mauka, to provide better coverage in Wailua and to move out of the tsunami zone.
Staffing and personnel
The study assessed the operational deployment of response resources to measure KFD performance by identifying coverage gaps and operational efficiencies related to scheduling and deployment. Some of the data used include records for staffing and anticipated island growth.
The department has an overall $35.8 million budget this fiscal year, which started in July and runs until June 2022.
Part of the study examined shift scheduling and work rules as identified in a 2019 overtime usage and retirement audit.
In 2018, the county assessed about $2.4 million for excess pension payments to the Hawai‘i Employees’ Retirement System, which makes up over 10% of the county’s budget. Of that, the KFD was responsible for $2.2 million of excess pension costs in FY2018 for 13 personnel who retired in 2017.
Much has changed since then, including transitioning to on-duty training, placing limits on extra-duty assignments and excluding higher-ranking personnel from community-risk-reduction events. KFD has also instituted procedures for leave requests that monitor sick leave and vacation.
Some flagged issues by auditors also included the scheduling restrictions imposed by the collective bargaining agreements and operational personnel scheduling processes used by the battalion chiefs.
Statewide rank-for-rank clauses put the department in a bind, and use of automated scheduling systems could alleviate some of these issues, auditors noted.
Was the Audit Team asked the question of charging a tourist’s insurance company for Air 1 rescues? The number of Air 1 tourist rescues is ridiculous. My wife and I live in Pennsylvania and plan to retire in Kauai next year. In Pennsylvania, if your vehicle is in an accident and takes out a guardrail, a stop sign, stop light, etc., your auto insurance is charged for the repairing the DOT property – AND I’m a PA taxpayer. I think if Kauai County instituted a charge to tourists for Air1 rescues two things would happen – 1) KFD would have more revenue and 2) once word got it, I’ll bet the number of Air 1 rescues would go down.
Hawai’i Five 0 new series has a copter. They had their own pilots. No way on KFD.
Is there a reason we can’t follow TomK’s simple solution to fees?