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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022 09-20 FC Approved as amended Minutes.pdf OPEN SESSION MEETING MINUTES Board/Commission Kauai Fire Commission Meeting Date September 20, 2022 Location Boards and Commissions Conference Room Suite 300 4444 Rice Street Līhu‘e, Hawai‘i 96766 Start of Meeting: 2:00 p.m. End of Meeting: 2:52 p.m. Present Chair Chad Pacheco; Commissioners: Alfredo Garces Jr., Linda Kaauwai-Iwamoto, Alfred Levinthol, Michael Martinez, and Rodney Yama. Also present were Board & Commissions Office Support Clerk Mercedes Omo; Administrator Ellen Ching; Office of the County Attorney: Deputy County Attorney Jenna Tatsey was present virtually via Microsoft Teams. Kauai Fire Department: Fire Chief Michael Gibson, Assistant Fire Chief Solomon Kanoho, and Chief’s Secretary Soncy Tamashiro. Excused Vice Chair Jen Chahanovich Absent SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION CALL TO ORDER/ ROLL CALL TO ASCERTAIN QUORUM The Fire Commission meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m. by Chair Chad Pacheco. A quorum of six (6) Commissioners was present. Vice Chair Jen Chahanovich was excused from the meeting. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Pacheco sought a motion to approve the September 20, 2022, meeting agenda. There was a motion made by Commissioner Garces to approve the agenda. Commissioner Martinez seconded the motion. Hearing no objections, the agenda was approved. KFC Open Session Minutes Of September 20, 2022, Meeting Page 2 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION CHAIR’S ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Pacheco announced that the next Regular Monthly Fire Commission meeting is on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. in the Boards and Commissions Conference Room Suite 300. PUBLIC TESTIMONY Chair Pacheco open the floor for testimony, being that there were no testifiers present Chair Pacheco stated for the record he would not be asking for testimony on every agenda item. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Pacheco sought a motion to approve or amend the minutes of the Fire Commission’s August 16, 2022, regular open session meeting. There was a motion made by Commissioner Garces to approve the minutes of August 16, 2022, regular open session meeting. Commissioner Kaauwai-Iwamoto seconded the motion. Hearing no objections, the minutes were approved. RECAP OF THE 2022 FIRE-RESCUE CONFERENCE IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS FROM AUGUST 24-26, 2022 Commissioner Kaauwai-Iwamoto reported that the 2022 FRI Conference was educational, fun, interactive, and inspiring. Hundreds of exhibitors that were at the showcased all the newest fire service innovations in apparatus, technology, and equipment. She stated there were a lot of different sessions to choose from and there were a few that she wanted to sign-up for, but they were already occurring but the ones that she did attend were all amazing. Most notable was a conversation that she had with some of attendees about the 2022 Fire Chiefs Conference on Hawai‘i island in December. Chair Pacheco reported that by all accounts the conference was great. The general opening session had an array of various types of fire service equipment on display. He also had an opportunity to meet with the various vendors and did some networking with some of the most prominent fire and emergency service personnel from across the country. KFC Open Session Minutes Of September 20, 2022, Meeting Page 3 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION He shared that one of session he attended was standing room only on how to put out EV battery fires which are rare but challenging to extinguish when water is no longer a solution. Firefighters need special training and techniques to confront battery fires and there are few fire departments that have trained their first responders to deal with them. The second session he attended was by Fire Chief Tom Jenkins of Arkansas. He talked about how to get all different shifts and make it all consistent, so that unshifted PRC are doing the same thing. He stated that Fire Chief Jenkins also talked about the gap between younger firefighters and seasoned firefighters on how to get both generations to share the same vision as their respective fire chiefs. Retention is also becoming a major issue for fire departments the average lifespan of a firefighter is between 5 to 10 years. Fire departments across the country are finding that the younger generation of firefighters cannot handle the stress of the job and are now dealing with workers comp ensation claims and providing counseling on how to handle stress on the job. In his conversation with a fire chief, he (Chair Pacheco) was told by the fire chief that he had seven firefighter openings in his department and out of the people that applied, only six applicants passed their initial written examine and out of the six only two passed their physical agility test which brings to mind that academics is an issue. Chair Pacheco stated that the last session he attended the speaker was from the U.S. Federal Fire Division and she spoke about federal infrastructure grants for construction and equipment and thought that the information could be of interest for Fire Chief Gibson, so he sent the information to him. Lastly, Chair Pacheco encouraged his fellow Commissioners (if their schedule permits) to attend next year’s FRI Conference in Kanas City, MO, at the Kanas City Convention Center from KFC Open Session Minutes Of September 20, 2022, Meeting Page 4 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION August 16-18, 2023. CHIEF’S MONTHLY BUREAU REPORTS/ PERTINENT UPDATES Chair Pacheco called on Fire Chief Michael Gibson to address his Monthly Reports. Fire Chief Goble Gibson gave an overview of his Monthly Bureau Reports highlighting the selection of Fire Captain Roger Mills as KFD’s new Deputy Fire Chief, out of the thirteen candidates who took the fire captains test nine passed and those interviews are being planned for early next month, the written test for Firefighters II and III will take place the second week in October and the following week will be the agility test, and October 9 through October 15, 2022 is Fire Prevention Week. Other highlights included the 911 Memorial on September 9 at Kukui Grove Shopping Center hosted by the Office of Elderly Affairs and the start of CERT discussions with KEMA and Friends of Kauai Fire Service. Partnerships On September 9, 2022, the Anaina Hou leadership did a presentation on building a resiliency center comprised of three domes. The domes will be used to hold community events, and in case of a natural d isaster one the domes would be used as an emergency center. Mayor Kawakami took a neutral approach to the project. The Anaina Hou leadership is proposing a no cost project to the county as they will be applying for grants and low interest loans to build what could be a fire substation and hopefully come up with enough money to outfit the inside of the domes with offices and dorms. The only thing that they would from the county is on-going maintenance and electrical to make the facility run. Fire Chief Gibson stated that a question was posed from the county to the fire department if KFD has enough personnel to staff the proposed fire station. His response back was instead of having five firefighters in each fire station, they would pull one firefighter from each KFC Open Session Minutes Of September 20, 2022, Meeting Page 5 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION fire station and assigned them to the new fire station. Covid Since September 12 new covid cases average is 7 a day down from 23. Resource Update The Resiliency Center in Wainiha new truck and landing craft has arrived. A site agreement has been reached between the state the county to build a new helicopter hanger to house Air1 in Līhu‘e. No completion date has yet to be announced. Administrative Bureau • Deputy Fire Chief Roger Mills start date is October 1, 2022. • One of the Department’s firefighters accepted a job with the state airport fire department and will be transferring to O‘ahu. As a result, KFD will now have six vacancies on the line, and with the upcoming promotions there will be a total of seven vacancies. • As for Ocean safety - 1 lieutenant is running the towers and all of the towers are fully staffed. • Human Resources is assisting KFD with finding a vendor to hold firefighter recruitment training. • KFD is currently in the process of rewriting the fire captain test to include training and prevention. • In the first year KFD used a $750,000 grant for architectural engineering services to design the new fire training facility, but in the second year, KFD ended paying for a prefab fire training facility. KFC Open Session Minutes Of September 20, 2022, Meeting Page 6 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Fire Operations • There were 628 calls for service in the month of August – up from 2021 of 518 calls for calls service. • 4 calls for service for structural fires • 2 calls for water rescues one involving a snorkeler who was pulled from lydgate pond and given CPR, then transferred to Wilcox Hospital. The second incident involved a swimmer in distress. The 28-year victim was given CPR and was transferred to Wilcox Hospital. Fire Prevention Bureau • There was an up-tick in telephone and email inquiries – 370 in the month of August compared to 97 in 2021 same month. The bureau is short a lieutenant, so the workload had to be spread out. • A question was asked by Commissioner Rodney Yama as to what a witness acceptance test is. Fire Chief Gibson explained that witness acceptance test is a visual inspection test conducted in-person by a fire inspector. Fire Training Bureau • Conducted marine response refresher training on radon and jet ski. Three members of the bureau’s training cadre attended a instructor level 2 training on O‘ahu, they will need to return to Oahu in the future for two more weeks of training. • Door Prop World Tour training – firefighters are being trained on emergency forcible entry. • OSC staff is undergoing the United States Lifeguard Association recertification training. • EMS Training on vector solutions and CPR refresher training. • The bureau completed 1652 hours of various training in the month of August. KFC Open Session Minutes Of September 20, 2022, Meeting Page 7 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION Ocean Safety Bureau • Rescues – 45 • Preventive actions – 23,088 • First Aid – 2,036 • OSO IV training captain lateral was transferred to north district • August 9, 2022, conduct OSC I Lifeguard interviews • August 16, 17, and 18 OSB held its quarterly staff meetings • Roving Patrol conducted 7 rescues • In addition to the 40 hours of initial training lifeguards have to do a mandatory annual all-day training plus an 2-hour group training. • Two lifeguards were recognized for saving a woman they pulled out of the water. While performing CPR a portable automated external defibrillator (AED) was used to analyze woman’s heart rhythm. The cardiologist who worked on the woman called Fire Chief Gibson to ask if he could get a copy of the AED card to see if what he suspected as a hunch was correct. When he reviewed the card what he suspected was correct. The doctor praised the two lifeguards for doing an outstanding job that saved the life of the victim. Goals Goal #1 – Develop a standard response. Because of the Keystone Training what would have taken them five minutes and 30 seconds to respond now takes them four minutes and 25 seconds to respond. The next Keystone Training is on to incorporate risk identification to standard deployment methods on water rescue. Goal #2 – Develop a policy management process. The Department has been preparing themselves to become better with their promotional exams, which now, includes standard of guidelines and materials to help those seeking a promotion. Rules and regulations is in the process of being established, it is a long process and takes time, it’s an important task and progress KFC Open Session Minutes Of September 20, 2022, Meeting Page 8 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION has been made. Maui Fire Department has rules and regulations which ha ve already been tested by the Hawai‘i Firefighters Association. Goal #3 – Identify career development pathway. With the goal and objectives completed promotional testing for fire captain, firefighters III and II are underway. KFD has purchased a Blue Card Command Training Program which is a standardized training system. Their goal for the past few years before he came on board is to standardize all of the fire stations so that everyone is on the same page and understands the same language. Questions by the Commissioners In response to Commissioner Yama’s concerns about Fire Ops expenditure being at the 40%-point, Fire Chief Gibson explained that it was for a one-time vehicle purchase and fire service equipment. In response to Chair Pacheco’s questioning about the Resiliency Center at Wainiha getting a new truck and landing craft if it’s going to staffed full-time by the county’s partners, Chief Gibson replied that no, the truck, and landing craft will be designated as reserve equipment. In response to Chair Pacheco’s questioning on who is in charge of maintaining the access road to Kē‘ē’ Beach where the lifeguards traverse daily to which Fire Chief Gibson replied that they put in a request to state and will call the state to follow-up. With no further questions, Chair Pacheco thanked Chair Fire Chief Gibson for his presenting his Monthly Reports and highlights, then sought a motion to accept the Chief Monthly Bureau Reports. There was a motion made by Commissioner Martinez to accept the Chief’s Monthly Bureau Reports. Commissioner Kaauwai-Iwamoto seconded the motion. Hearing no objections, the motion carried 6:0. KFC Open Session Minutes Of September 20, 2022, Meeting Page 9 SUBJECT DISCUSSION ACTION ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to conduct, Chair Pacheco sought a motion to adjourn the meeting. There was a motion made by Commissioner Garces and seconded by Commissioner Yama. The meeting adjourned at 2:52 p.m. Submitted by: __________________________________ Reviewed and Approved by: _________________________________________ Mercedes Omo, Staff Support Clerk Chad Pacheco, Chair ( ) Approved as circulated on (x ) Approved as amended. See minutes of October 18, 2022, meeting.