The Daniel Robert Sayre Memorial Foundation Dinner
September 4th is the Daniel Robert Sayre Memorial Foundation Dinner and Silent Auction. If you would like to attend and have not made your reservations, go to there web site at http://www.danielsayrefoundation.com . Try to make it if you can.

Volunteer Fire Company Officer’s Meeting August 7, 2010
Volunteer Fire Company Officer’s Meeting
August 7, 2010
Captain TJ James 11C Discovery Harbor Hosting
Also in attendance; Captain Clyde Komatsu, Captain Henry
Desa & Fire Commissioner Scott Stabo



Meeting opened at 10:10am with Tom Brandt announcing that Fire 1 would be attending only through a phone link as he had misunderstood that the meeting location had changed. Tom then asked everyone to introduce themselves and identify what company they belong to. He also reminded everyone to check the HVFCA.net website for any Volunteer Fire Dept. news. Doug Keown up-dates the site regularly with any pertinent info and welcomes submissions.
Tom brought up the subject of HotShield & respirator usage. Every firefighter should have a HotShield. Fire 1 said that respirators are not OSHA approved and are not to be used. Fire 1 said that cartridge-type respirators do not filter carbon monoxide and are not NFPA, CDF, or California OSHA approved. HotShields are the only thing approved for use and are particulate filters only. Fire 1 said that he is looking into other breathing protection options as well as better goggles.
Clyde said that new turnouts will soon be acquired for all career firefighters and about 180 sets of their old turnouts will be available for distribution to volunteers. Clyde said that priority for distribution would be given to volunteers who are most active in showing up to fight fires. Clyde said that when the gear becomes available factory reps would be on hand to help with outfitting everyone for proper fit. Henry said that normally turnouts are good for about a ten-year effective life span.
Fire 1 said that Desmond Wery is back helping with Pahala, Naalehu and Paauilo building projects and is awaiting word from Honolulu to make sure that proposed ADA compliance plans will be acceptable. Fire 1 said that all projects are moving forward. Fire 1 said that he is working with the church that owns the preferred Paauilo property for a mutually acceptable rental agreement. Jim Millar said that this location is preferable over other possible options and wondered if Dominic Yagong might be able to help with his discretionary funds. Fire 1 said that he would check into it but added that he understands that discretionary funds haven’t been available for the last couple of years.
Jim also asked about getting brush pants. Henry said that Ralph Yawata is working on having more to hand out soon. Fire 1 added that all the new gear attained through the Assistance To Firefighters Grant for the career firefighters will mean more, newer equipment to be handed down to volunteers.
Fire 1 said that he would be meeting with a reporter from West Hawaii Today to work on an article explaining the need for volunteers and their role in HFD.
Fire 1 thanked everyone who had fought recent fires and apologized again for not being able to attend in person. He asked if there were any other questions and after hearing that there weren’t any he said goodbye.
Wayne Krug said that he was working on a bulk order of duty T-shirts. He said that he was quoted $9.90 for regular sizes and $11.46 for 2X and larger. These prices do not include taxes so that needs to be figured in before writing him a check for your order. Call Wayne @962-6383 with your order before the end of August. Wayne also has info on hats for those interested. Annabelle asked Wayne if Tank Tops could be ordered and Wayne said that they could.
TJ showed everyone a hat that he had recently ordered for his company and had info to share on ordering. TJ also had a service award to share and info for ordering.
Tom asked if anyone present would be entering the Fire Fighter Fishing Tournament scheduled for August 18th. Henry said that he would be in it. Steve Grasso and Annabelle said that they would be in the tournament and Tom said that he would be on a boat with Ron & Noni. Henry said that it is a fun day and encouraged others to come if they could.
Tom brought up Fire Prevention week and Clyde invited everyone to attend. He said that it will start off with a Kona-side program and the finale will be in Hilo.
Doug said that he would like to stage a demo of a kitchen fire and Henry told Doug to call him and he would get him info on who to coordinate with.
Henry asked that everyone gear up to finish the Firefighter 1 study program so he and Clyde can start on the skills test portion before the end of the year. Then there will be a lot more ‘hands-on’ training as well up-dating PUC’s etc.. Ron Ebert asked about getting new members up to speed and the problem of too few study manuals to go around. Ron Sanford said he had the manual on a thumb drive and Henry said he could make an electronic copy available to anyone interested.
Wayne reported on a recent accident where a tanker carrying 8000 gallons of Naptha overturned in a gulch hairpin turn and spilled the entire load. When he got near the scene his truck started sucking in the Naptha fumes and started to ‘run away’. Everyone shut down safely but it was extremely scary and could have ended very badly. The highway was completely shut down all day. A private firm was hired to do the clean-up but he said that the smell was still evident long afterward. Henry added that the career guys mention to him often that they really appreciate the help that they get from the volunteers.
Mack talked about a recent fire in a very expensive newly built home. It was the homeowners first night in the home and was caused by a cheese-heating machine left on by mistake.
Mike talked about the fire danger of green waste dumping ( as well as other illegal dumping )in Discovery Harbor. Henry said that neighbors watching and reporting is the best deterrent. TJ said that the Pole Line road is a prime illegal dump spot and when there are fires there is really nasty & noxious stuff burning. Henry said not to take chances and stay upwind, uphill or away, let it burn if you don’t have SCBA. Doug asked about exposure to fumes and Henry said that he would make sure that all volunteer companies had the proper forms to report with. Henry said to report immediately to the IC or captain any exposure problems so they can fill out a report.
Clyde asked that everyone get their quarterly Driver Training Logs turned in promptly, he also asked that everyone check all extinguishers and take them in to their parent station if they are due for servicing. He said that they can be switched out to your training captain. Make sure that any extinguisher is clearly marked with your company info before turning it in. Clyde also reminded everyone to make sure to turn in RMS forms after any incident. Henry added that this is very important and also backs up any incident/accident reports or claims, especially medical.
Henry said that there is a new driver trainer, Monel Kim, who is very willing to help with volunteer training. Henry asked everyone to make a list of interested driver trainees so a driver training program can be planned.
Ron Sanford asked about the proposed up-dated Volunteer Vehicle Decal usage agreement. Clyde said that Ralph Yawata wanted to add HFD logo to it and that Clyde would check on the status as soon as he was back in his office. Henry said that every volunteer vehicle should have a decal displayed as this is a protection to the individual as well as HFD.
Henry announced to applause that as of this day, 9B Kanehoa is on-line.
Tom Brandt brought everyone’s attention to the new ‘ Volunteers Wanted’ banner hanging behind him. This was provided by the fire dept as an aid to volunteers and is available for use by asking your captain.
Tom said that the Fire Commission has not had a meeting in awhile due to lack of enough members for a quorum. He said that he gets a lot of info from these meetings and hopes that especially members who have not been able to attend due to illness are back soon.
Tom asked Derek Domingo if he would be able to host the next meeting in November. Derek said that there weren’t any openings at his Community Association for that month. Tom then announced that Civil Defense 1, Quince Mento offered to host the November meeting at the EOC. Tom will check with Quince to secure a date ( November 6th) and get back to everyone. This will be a Pot Luck.
Clyde said that he would be visiting Ainaloa, Eden Roc and Paradise Park stations on Tuesday with a Federal Forestry representative to check on some of the volunteer vehicles on loan from forestry. They would also be on the Hamakua side on Wednesday. Henry said that he has been working with the mechanic shop to get them out to do repairs to volunteer vehicles when possible.
Ron Sanford asked about getting keys to County Base Yards for getting fuel when fighting fire out of your normal district.
Clyde and Henry said to make sure to let your IC or local volunteer captain know that you need access/fuel and also to make sure that you let them know what type fuel that you need as gas boys pump keys are fuel specific. Henry also said to make sure that you input your info correctly by the second try – the third time will shut down the pump excluding anyone else using it. Tom added that it is important to remove your key slowly, if you pull it out quickly it can be de-magnetized and will not work anymore.
Noni asked about the possibility of fueling their engine at KMC where station 19 gets their fuel as it is much closer than having to go all the way to station 5 in Keaau. Clyde said that he would check.
Derek said that recently he had questions asked by prospective volunteers about medical marijuana use as well as criminal records. Both Clyde & Henry said absolutely no medical marijuana, no felonies. Other past criminal records will be taken into consideration case-by-case by training captains and FD.
Steve Grasso said that he was happy to announce that he is very close to getting his community-owned engine on-line. He said that he has a good replacement engine to use now too. Henry said that is hard to get apparatus okayed for use by the fire department, there is a lot of research involved including licensing & past & future repair issues.
Tom Brandt asked that if there were no more business that the meeting would be closed and he asked that everyone meet outside for a group photo.
Meeting adjourned @11:50am

Next Officers Meeting
The next meeting will be held at the EOC (Civil Defense Office) in Hilo on November 6th at 10:00 AM. This will be Pot Luck

BLESSING AND DEDICATION OF NEW CHOPPER-1
Take a look in the Photo Gallery. Mark Hunter from 18-A sent in some pictures of the New Chopper 1

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PROPER ALARM RECEIPT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND RESPONSE PROCEDURES
March 23, 2010

CHIEF’S MEMORANDUM NO. 2010-020

TO : ALL PERSONNEL

FROM : DARRYL OLIVEIRA, FIRE CHIEF

SUBJECT: PROPER ALARM RECEIPT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND RESPONSE PROCEDURES

In order to insure we are providing our community with the best possible services and to promote effective communication, the following procedures will be implemented effective immediately regarding the acknowledgement of an alarm and the subsequent response communications:

Upon receipt of an alarm, the Company Officer shall insure the acknowledgement of the receipt of said alarm in the following manner: “Control, Company _ copy, (nature of call, i.e. difficulty breathing) at (reported address). For example, “Control, Company Seven copy, alarm sounding at 123 Alapa Street.”

Upon initiating response, the Company Officer or responding unit officer in charge (i.e. MICT on a medic unit, FRS on a rescue unit, etc) shall communicate responding and identify the unit(s) responding. For example: “Control, Company 14 responding, Engine 14, Medic 14, and Tanker 14.”

On arrival at the scene, the first arriving officer on a single or multi-company incident shall communicate arrival and establish “Incident Command.” For example, “Control, Engine 4 on scene, Captain 4 in command.” The initial Incident Commander (IC) shall retain command until such time that it is formally transferred in accordance with Item 4 below regardless of the rank of the next arriving officer(s).


If Incident Command is transferred, it shall be communicated on the radio for all involved units and dispatch to receive and understand. For example, “Control, Battalion 2 is on scene, command is transferred to Battalion 2. Battalion 2 is in command.” The transfer of command will be first discussed and confirmed by the initial and new IC prior to the broadcast message of command transfer.

The aforementioned procedures shall be utilized and additional procedures may be forthcoming as we continue to identify measures that may be considered to improve our service delivery.

Company officers and unit supervisors shall review this memorandum and insure its acknowledgement and compliance.

DARRYL OLIVEIRA
Fire Chief

USE OF FLUORESCENT FLAGGING TAPE
TO : ALL PERSONNEL

FROM : AC RALPH YAWATA, SUPPORT SERVICES DIVISION

SUBJECT: USE OF FLUORESCENT FLAGGING TAPE


At our recent Volunteer Company Officer quarterly meeting, it was suggested that fire companies have on board fluorescent flagging tape to mark safe access routes during an incident scene as experienced during our recent Kealakekua brushfire. Some of the personnel mentioned traveling up existing routes or dozer cut breaks only to find them heading in the wrong direction.

Our two (2) color flagging system will be:

GREEN for the correct, safe routes or access, but not limited to the command post, staging area, etc.
PINK will be utilized to mark hazards, unsafe routes and other areas where vehicles or personnel should not enter.

Each company (volunteer and staffed) will be issued one (1) roll of each color. Request for replacements shall be made utilizing your monthly supply request. In the case of volunteer companies, your request will be through your respective Training Captain.

If you have any questions or comments, please email or call me.