The third and final phase of the Hawaiʻi attorney general’s report on the 2023 Lahaina wildfire outlines top priorities for state and county lawmakers to better prepare and respond to wildfires.
The top priority in the Phase 3 report is to create a comprehensive and cohesive wildfire plan. It would bring together the many departments and stakeholders involved in all aspects of planning from building codes to emergency response.
The report says the ideal person to lead this effort is the state fire marshal — who doesn’t yet exist. Hawaiʻi is the only state in the country without one.
Last year, the state Legislature passed a law to establish the Office of the State Fire Marshal. Since then, the State Fire Council, which is composed of all the county fire chiefs, has been working through the hiring process.
The fire council received 12 applications and will be narrowing down the pool for interviews by Jan. 27. Fire Council Chair Kazuo Todd, also head of the Hawaiʻi County Fire Department, says they are moving as fast as they can, but it’s an important decision.
“If we choose the wrong person, we could actually make things worse, so I think it's important to make sure that we find the right person that has the skill set necessary to build a department to bring on the right people,” Todd said.
“I don't want to be sitting in my office five to 10 years from now or something like that and regretting the decision we make today to try and push this state forward a little bit and bring us up to speed with where we need to be.”
The council hopes to make a final selection by the end of February.
Funding is another factor. Lawmakers budgeted $172,000, which includes the salary for the fire marshal and one staff position. Experts say it’s likely not enough.
Denise Antolini, a member of the governor’s Climate Advisory Team, told HPR that the fire marshal’s salary should be elevated to attract the right person for the job.
“The current allocation of funding and the current structure for the state fire marshal is simply not adequate to do the task that needs to be done,” she said.
“I did listen to a very fascinating interview with the state fire marshal in California about the LA fires. It was incredible to hear a state fire marshal talk with such eloquence and competence and capacity about what the entire situation was in California, and it just made me anxious for Hawaiʻi to have somebody like that who can be in that leadership position. So the recommendation is to really provide Hawaiʻi with leadership and the capacity to do that statewide coordination that we so desperately need," Antolini said.
Gov. Josh Green is requesting instead $2.2 million for the office, which would also add two additional staff positions.
In the meantime, the attorney general’s Phase 3 report advises the state to work with programs like the Hawaiʻi Wildfire Management Organization to do some of that coordination.
As written, the Office of the State Fire Marshal — like the Fire Council — will be under the Department of Labor and Industrial Resources. But that may also change going into the next legislative session. There have been conversations about putting it in the Department of Land and Natural Resources or the Department of Defense.
New laws could impact the selection process of the state fire marshal. That’s why Todd and the rest of the fire council will be closely monitoring bills introduced at the Legislature.
“If it's just like, ‘Hey, we want to move it to this other area and give it lots of money.’ I would assume. No, you know, that'd be perfectly fine,” Todd said.
“If it's, ‘Hey, we're going to turn it over to this department and they're now in charge of choosing somebody.’ And maybe that changes the selection and that person that we've selected maybe isn't that, that future fire chief? It's really going to depend on what people are writing right now as we move into the legislative session.”
The legislative session started Wednesday, Jan. 15.
Read the full Phase 3 report below, or click here to open a new window.
Read past reports related to the Lahaina fire:
- U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives report with the Maui Fire Department
- Attorney general's 1st investigation report with the UL's Fire Safety Research Institute
- Attorney general's 2nd investigation report with the UL's Fire Safety Research Institute
- Maui Fire Department's After-Action Report, prepared by the Western Fire Chiefs Association
- Maui Police Department's After-Action Report
- HPR's Maui Fire Relief guide