Committee forwards mutual-aid agreement with state forestry for wildfire response and training

The Hawaii County Council Committee on Governmental Operations and External Affairs voted Oct. 21 to forward Resolution 345-25 to the full council with a favorable recommendation. The resolution would authorize the mayor to enter an intergovernmental agreement with the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife and would allow the Hawaii Fire Department to enter a mutual-aid agreement to coordinate resource sharing, unified command structures and responses to wildfires that exceed a single department’s capacity.

The change to the county’s existing memorandum of agreement is largely unchanged from the prior document, but adds language to allow Hawaii Fire Department personnel to be sent with the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife to mainland incidents for training. “I think it's line 14 or something like that that would allow us to also send personnel from the Hawaii Fire Department with DOFA through the Northwestern, compact to large complex fires in the Mainland for training purposes,” Fire Chief Kazuo Todd said during the committee meeting.

Councilmember Eustace moved the committee recommendation and Councilmember Onishi seconded the motion. Clerk roll-call counting recorded seven votes in favor; Councilmember Connie Lee Kleinfelder and Councilmember Kurkowitz were noted as absent. The clerk’s tally as read at the meeting was “7 in favor” and the committee’s action was to forward the resolution with a favorable recommendation to council.

The resolution text presented to the committee states the intergovernmental agreement is intended to create “clear working protocols for resource sharing, unified command structures, and coordinated responses” for wildfires and related incidents. Committee Chair Jen Kogibata asked the Hawaii Fire Department to briefly present the change, and Chief Todd described the agreement as an update to an existing memorandum that is “95% the same” as the current agreement aside from the added training/cooperation language.

No public testimony was offered to the committee on the item during the meeting.

The committee’s favorable recommendation advances Resolution 345-25 to the full Hawaii County Council for consideration. The resolution itself and any final intergovernmental agreement would determine the precise responsibilities, training terms and liability protections between the county and the state agency.