A special firefighting "brush truck" normally would have been stationed near the site of a stubborn Leeward Coast brush fire that burned for days last week and forced residents to flee, the head of the federal fighters union in Hawaii said Monday.
But scheduling changes implemented in April reduced the usual equipment and staffing at the federal fighters’ Fire Station 11 in Lualualei, said Reid Shimabukuro, president of the Federal Firefighters of Hawaii-Local F263.
Until April 23, Fire Station 11 had eight firefighters, an engine and a brush truck assigned to the station 24 hours a day. The brush truck that had been at Station 11 has since been reassigned to Schofield Barracks, Shimabukuro said.
A fire engine only has front-wheel drive, but the smaller brush truck uses four-wheel drive to get firefighters closer to the source of a brush fire, Shimabukuro said. It’s also equipped with smaller, 1-inch-diameter hoses that allow firefighters to more easily maneuver to fight brush fires, he said.
When a small brush fire at Naval Magazine Lualualei grew to 1,200 acres on June 4, four federal firefighters — who now staff the station only eight hours per day — were equipped with an engine better designed for battling urban fires, Shimabukuro said.
"They didn’t have a brush truck to fight brush fires," he said. "If we would have had a brush truck there, we might have been able to get to parts of the fire that a normal engine can’t get to. We’re just extremely fortunate that the fire happened during that period of time during the day that there was coverage."
The Honolulu Fire Department used two helicopters and provided the majority of firefighters to extinguish the blaze.
Navy spokeswoman Agnes Tauyan, speaking on behalf of the Federal Fire Department, said in a statement, "It is important to note that Station 11 on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Lualualei Annex was fully manned and equipped when the brush fire was reported on June 4, and those firefighters were first to respond on scene. … (The) station is now manned during normal working hours and in support of any other operations that may occur at the annex outside of regular working hours, instead of being manned 24/7."
Under a mutual aid agreement, the Honolulu Fire Department and Federal Fire Department would respond to a Lualualei emergency outside normal working hours, Tauyan said, with city firefighters likely arriving first as they are closest.
No firefighters lost jobs when the station’s staffing was changed, Shimabukuro said.
"We’ve always been told that this is a cost-saving measure," he said. "Not that we want any firefighters to lose their jobs. But when you close the station and you don’t get rid of the positions, where is the cost savings?"
