There has been a delay in the Hawaii Fire Department’s plans to move operations from its Central Fire Station in downtown Hilo to a midtown warehouse on Kilauea Avenue so the 90-year-old station can undergo long-overdue repairs.
Fire Chief Kazuo Todd said Monday the move, which was supposed to have taken place over the summer, is on hold because of building code concerns about the department’s temporary digs.
“The Department of Public Works did raise some concerns over some of the code requirements, along with using the facility the way I wanted to use it, which I hadn’t anticipated,” Todd said. “For safety reasons, with people being in a building 24 hours a day, there had to be some sort of fire protection that was a requirement of the code.
“We worked with a drafting company and put together plans and have been working towards getting modification and permitting completed, so we can make changes to the building to be compliant and meet the intent of the building code.”
Todd said he had been told that the permitting process to make the temporary Hilo fire headquarters code-compliant so the move can take place is a priority for DPW’s Building and Planning divisions.
“We have active work in the (temporary) building going on,” said Todd, who added that no construction work is underway at the Central Fire Station.
The Central Fire Station building at the corner of Kinoole and Ponahawai streets has been showing its age — with cracks in its facade, unsightly mold, a leaking and crumbling roof and other age- and maintenance-related issues. County firefighters and paramedics continue to work in the dilapidated structure, and fire trucks and ambulances continue to be parked in its garage bays when not dispatched to a call.
Prior plans estimated the cost of the renovations would be $8 million, but the price is likely to go up due to inflation and other factors.
Todd told the Tribune-Herald in May one concern about the downtown fire station that won’t be fixed by major renovations is that the building is in a tsunami inundation zone.
One department function that’s not currently working out of Central Fire Station is the dispatch center, which was moved in May from the dilapidated station into the Hawaii Police Department’s dispatch center at 349 Kapiolani St. The communications co-location was due to a staffing shortage of fire and EMS dispatchers, a written statement from Cyrus Johnasen, spokesman for Mayor Mitch Roth, explained at the time.
“We’re very happy being in with the police officers and dispatchers,” Todd said. “They’ve been amazing in helping to facilitate the current issues at the moment, and the ability to work closely with them has had a nice outcome. Obviously, when the new building is completed, we’ll be in the same building with them, as well. So, we’re hoping there are some long-term dividends that come out of that closer working relationship.”
The new building Todd referred to is a large dispatch center that will house police, fire and EMS dispatchers under construction adjacent to the Mohouli Heights Senior Neighborhood in Hilo. Construction of the center, which began in October 2021, originally was expected to be complete by now.
The estimated completion date had been pushed back to September 2023 prior to the current projection of the first quarter of 2024.
The construction delays were caused by supply shortages and shipping problems during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The estimated price tag for the facility is $33 million.
“In the meantime, we do have our current class of fire communication officers on pace,” Todd said. He added that the current class, which started with five recruits, likely will improve the retention rate for fire and EMS dispatchers, which currently sits at 19%.
“There are four of them remaining, and they are taking 911 calls under supervision on a regular basis between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday,” Todd said. “Things are moving at a pace where I’m looking to move them back into our dispatch center (at Central Fire Station), hopefully, by the end of the year.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.