i Sushi neighb Kukui Grove Grove Center Center 2600 Kaumualii Kaumualii Hwy Hwy Lihue, Lihue, HI HI 96766 96766 (808) (808) 632-2450 632-2450 genkisushiusa.com genkisushiusa.com from your Take Out Available! Kukui 2600 God Loves You! Want to know more? Christian Science Society, Kauai welcomes everyone 3905 Hanapepe Hanapepe For more information: 822-3040 Citizens of the world, accept liberty of the children of and be free! This is your divine right. Mary Baker Eddy email: Every year, America celebrates the thousands of public safety telecommunications per- sonnel who silently work long hours to answer the call of communities na- tionwide. From April 14 through 20, the Police De- partment (KPD) and other safety agencies from around the country are honoring the men and women who answer the calls, recognizing public safety telecommunications during National Public Safety Telecommunica- tions Week (NPSTW). Dispatchers play an in- dispensable role in en- abling first responders to effectively carry out their duties. KPD dispatchers manage calls not only for police, but fire and Emer- gency Medical Services (EMS), in addition to tak- ing nonemergency calls and monitoring radio com- munications.
Last year, Emergency Service Dispatchers at KPD received 58,387 calls for service, and in honor the 911 dispatchers were presented with a proclamation on behalf of Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami. provide that critical link between the public and first re- sponders. We recognize and thank each and every one of them for the ser- vices they have provided to our community and first Emer- gency Management Agency Administrator El- ton Ushio. Dispatching requires strong multitasking abili- ties, but a genuine passion for helping others turns this job into a rewarding career.
Currently, KPD em- ploys 10 full-time emer- gency dispatchers, half the staffing that is required to maintain normal opera- tions. Christina Chong Tim has been a dispatcher for 17 years and was recognized as an Outstanding Em- ployee for 2023. are not calling you on their best day. Their emotions are high and seeking your Chong Tim said. that going into work each day and making a difference in life gives me great pride in what I The committed men and women voluntarily take on additional hours and sacri- fice time off to ensure that emergency assistance is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
this past weekend, they went above and beyond to keep both community members and first responders safe during a time of crisis. Their selfless service has saved countless lives, and though they may remain unknown to most, today and every day, we pay trib- ute to these heroes with said KPD Chief Todd Raybuck. Anyone interested in making a positive differ- ence in their community can find out more about being a dispatcher by vis- iting the County of employment website at www.kauai.gov/jobs. Police Department honors its dispatchers Xiomara Y. Guevara THE GARDEN ISLAND FRIDAY APRIL 19, 2024 A5 DITOR Wyatt Haupt Jr.
808-245-0457 concerns on behalf of customers, and we have been updating them on the situation. continue to update them on what doing to re- duce the likelihood of future outages as well as our efforts to proactively inform customers and con- tinue asking for their help in conserving electricity until we get more generating units back Also on Wednesday, HECO again advised Big Is- land customers to conserve energy to avoid out- ages that evening. Because of abundant wind energy, outages were the first time HECO has had to initiate rolling blackouts once since March 25, when Hamakua Energy first went dark. HECO has said a lack of power will be a problem until the end of April, when one of the offline gen- erators will return to service after an overhaul. HECO also has advised customers who rely on electrically powered life-support equipment to ar- range for backup power systems in the event of an unexpected outage.
Okinaka said via email that customers should consult with their doctor or pharmacist about how to handle such a situation and set up a contingency plan for backup genera- tors. Okinaka added the company has a life-support assistance program that offers billing help for cus- tomers who rely on such equipment 537 cus- tomers are enrolled in that program. Residents are advised to monitor social media accounts on Facebook and (formerly Twit- ter) for outage updates, as well as County Civil emergency notification system on Everbridge. Reporter Michael Brestovansky can be reached at Probe Continued from A1 Here are the key takeaways from the reports: Communication was a struggle amid the chaos A major windstorm was toppling power lines and utility poles throughout Lahaina, and the first fire of the day sparked when a live power line snapped and hit dry brush. But firefighters and police re- ceived mixed messages about whether Hawaiian Electric had de-energized the lines, according to the FSRI report.
In the early afternoon before the initial fire flared back up and be- gan overtaking the town a utility worker told fire crews that he could not confirm if the lines were de-ener- gized. It until after homes be- gan catching fire that dispatchers reached Hawaiian Electric and got confirmation that the power was out. The report also described a com- munications breakdown between po- lice, firefighters and other emergency officials. Cellular net- works were down, and the police and fire agencies used separate channels that public officials and others listen to. Over- whelmed dispatchers had single op- erators trying to monitor as many as five or six channels at once.
Residents and tourists had no way to get emergency alerts or communi- cate with loved ones, and 911 opera- tors were inundated with calls. One of the operators was off-island and getting geographical location information with calls, and thus know where to send people fleeing the flames. Meanwhile, the head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency, Herman Andaya, was off-island at a work conference and getting regular text messages and calls from staffers about the rapidly changing fires. After a series of evacuations in La- haina, he asked his assistant if he should come home, but was told that may look according to the report. A few hours later, after much of the town had burned, An- daya said he would come home the following morning.
An after-action report from police earlier this year also identified com- munication challenges and recom- mended that a high-ranking officer be placed in the communica- tion center during future emergen- cies. The fire was swift and unrelenting, escape routes were few Firefighters thought they had extin- fight other wildfires on a different part guished the morning blaze, which started near a part of town that is far from the ocean. But less than 40 min- emergencies fully stocked utes after they left the scene, the flames reerupted, quickly spreading from home to home in a nearby neigh- could be put into action. borhood. Wind gusts that were still toppling power lines pushed embers and burn- counties, which meant that there ing debris farther into Lahaina.
As firefighters and other emergency from neighboring islands. The agen- crews scrambled to evacuate houses cies also lacked a plan for evacuating and get people to safety, dark smoke dropped visibility to near-zero at times. Those roads that blocked by trees, utility poles or power lines became jammed with traf- flee. fic that sometimes ground to a stand- still. But the time people had to escape would likely have been tight even if the roads were all clear: Within 90 minutes, spot fires were burning all the way to the ocean, according to the Wednesday that they requested inci- FSRI report, and spreading north and dent activity logs and other records south.
Some people died in their cars. Oth- still had not received all the data. ers leaped into the ocean to escape the flames. Still others abandoned ve- what he called difficulty with gain- hicles and fled on foot. Resources were scattered and stretched thin Firefighters risked their lives again and again packing survivors into fire trucks to get them to safety, physi- and cause of the fire on behalf of the cally carrying victims away from dan- Maui Fire Department.
That report is ger, and taking shelter behind their own disabled vehicles according to be released in the next few months. report. Many of the crews and engines were already deployed to of the island when Lahaina began to burn. The back-up fire engines used in with equipment, and valuable minutes were lost restocking them before they The report also highlighted a lack of mutual aid agreements between Ha- was no standard way to request help tourists and residents who did not speak English and language barri- ers made it difficult for the firefighters to warn some people of the need to What comes next? FSRI investigators are still trying to get some records from the Maui Emer- gency Management Agency. Research program manager Derek Alkonis said from MEMA on multiple occasions but Alkonis did not go into detail about ing from the agency, but said the reason is to be ana- lyzed in subsequent The federal Bureau of Alcohol, To- bacco, Firearms and Explosives is working on a report about the origin not yet complete, but is expected to Reports Continued from A1 JAE C.
HONG ASSOCIATED PRESS The aftermath of a wildfire is seen in Lahaina, Aug. 17, 2023. COURTESY OF THE POLICE DEPARTMENT The Police Department is honoring its dispatchers, as part of National Public Safety Telecommunications Week..
