The Maui County Council signaled last week that it wants more resources for Maui’s fire and emergency management agencies in the aftermath of last year’s devastating fires.

But the council says it will wait for the Maui Fire Department’s after-action report before deciding specific spending plans.

The terror from the four out-of-control fires that occurred simultaneously on Maui on Aug. 8 — and the tragic outcome with the loss of 101 people and more than 2,200 homes and businesses — is still fresh in most people’s minds. Many worry it can happen again.

“We want to dedicate this budget to Lahaina and to show our county that we have learned from the tragedy of last year,” council member Keani Rawlins-Fernandez said during Friday’s committee meeting to continue discussions about Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed $1.7 billion fiscal year 2025 budget.

And one way to do that, she said, is to ensure that the Maui Emergency Management Agency has full capacity to handle emergencies.

That was not the case on Aug. 8 when wildfires raged around the island and then-Administrator Herman Andaya was on Oahu. He resigned nine days later after being scrutinized for his actions, or lack of them, which included not activating emergency alert sirens.

While almost all county departments on Maui have a deputy position, MEMA does not.

“It’s kind of crazy that there isn’t a second-in-command for this important agency,” Rawlins-Fernandez said.

When asked if it should, MEMA Administrator Amos Lonokailua-Hewett said: “Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.”

He said trained and qualified people with a lot of experience have expressed interest in the position, but he lost three of them to the exorbitant cost of housing on Maui.

The council also collectively voiced a willingness to provide whatever support is necessary to improve the Maui Fire and Public Safety Department, which at a proposed $70.3 million for fiscal 2025 is $10.1 million more than a year ago. The next fiscal year begins July 1.

But Alice Lee, council chair, said it would be advantageous to have the fire department’s after-action report from the Aug. 8 fires before decisions are made on the department’s budget.

Fire Chief Brad Ventura said it would be made public “right around the corner.”

The department’s proposed new budget includes six new firefighter positions, which Ventura said he expects to be able to fill with 300 recruits having passed the initial test and now in the pipeline. Unlike most other departments in the county, fire and public safety is almost fully staffed with about 450 employees.

The department’s proposed budget also includes two new pumper trucks at $1.6 million each for the Haiku Fire Station on Maui and the Kaunakakai Fire Station on Molokai, a $975,000 water tanker to supplement water supply during emergencies and three off-road mini pumpers at $380,000 each to deal with the increasing wildfires.

Ventura said he is beefing up the prevention bureau with the addition of four positions so there are fewer fires to put out.

To date, with limited staff, the bureau has primarily been reactionary.

“We want to be in front of the problems rather than chasing them,” he said.

The goal is to work with the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization to identify high-risk wildfire areas around developments, and then talk with landowners to try to create fuel break plans prior to every fire season.

Hawaii is facing an “above normal” chance of significant wildfires for May through July following a wetter than expected winter, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

The department also is requesting a full-time public information officer. The duties are now being handled only part-time by a person who has several other roles in the department.

Ventura said it has proven to be important to provide more timely information to the community, especially during times of emergency.

Lonokailua-Hewett also is looking to add a public affairs officer to keep the community better informed in times of emergency, and to better engage with residents before they do occur.

His budget includes six new positions, including staff specialists in each in the rural parts of the county — Lanai, Molokai and Hana — to handle mitigation, response, recovery and preparedness.

“It’s a no-brainer,” he said. “Right now there is no connectivity to those communities.”

But Lonokailua-Hewett said he has been having trouble recruiting staff for the positions he already has and at the salaries available.

Among immediate things he would like to accomplish is strengthening the Emergency Operations Center. The current space does not effectively accommodate the coordination between departments and other agencies that is needed in an emergency, he said, and it does not have appropriate technology.

The new Emergency Operations Center, which will be housed in the former Hawaiian Telcom building in Wailuku that the county purchased for $3.8 million in 2021, has suffered another setback related to a chiller needed to cool the second and third floors. He said this could delay the opening until July 2025.

His budget proposal also reflects a plan to immediately begin to improve training for the EOC staff, county partners and the Community Emergency Response Team members. He currently is looking for a training specialist.

Lonokailua-Hewett, who retired in 2019 as a battalion chief with 25 years of service with Maui Fire Department, has only been on the job since Jan. 1.

To help Lonokailua-Hewett navigate county bureaucracy in the personnel process that can take months to get a position ready to advertise, council member Tamara Paltin said she would be open to using one of her limited budget amendments to update his department’s organizational chart to save steps in the future.

“If you have a vision of what the ultimate build out of MEMA should look like, I would propose putting it all out there this year,” she said.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.