Nearly half of Hawaiʻi schools have aging fire alarms that are in poor condition and becoming unreliable, according to a recent report from the state education department. 

Only three of schools’ alarms are in critical condition, meaning they’re broken or significantly impaired: Hilo Intermediate, Waikele Elementary and Pāhoa High and Intermediate School. That’s a significant improvement from 2023, when the education department estimated alarms were in critical condition at more than two dozen schools.

Five schools – including the three in critical condition – are currently on fire watch, meaning their systems aren’t fully working and staff need to regularly patrol their campuses for signs of fire, Deputy Superintendent Jesse Souki said during a Board of Education meeting last week. All five schools, which include Lanakila Elementary and ʻAiea High School, have construction projects underway or are in the midst of troubleshooting.

Fire alarms are in poor condition at 120 public schools, which means their systems are working but becoming unreliable because of their age, recurring problems or outdated parts. At another 73 schools, alarms are in fair condition – reliable for now but in need of maintenance in the future. 

At the remaining 68 campuses, alarms are in good condition and fully functioning. 

State lawmakers have set aside more than $85 million for major health and safety construction projects, including fire alarms, in the current budget. But lawmakers have underfunded these construction projects in the past. In 2023, the Legislature set aside no funding for school health and safety projects, despite the education department’s $20 million request across two years. 

“Everything counts, everything helps,” Public Works Administrator Jadine Urasaki told the state education board next week. “We just continue to chip away with the funding that we do get.”

Currently, 20 department fire alarm projects are under construction and 10 are in design. Another seven schools are being evaluated for future improvements. The estimated costs of projects range from less than $250,000 to more than $6 million.  

The department finished seven alarm projects in the past year. 

School fire alarms have been an area of concern for lawmakers in recent years, especially following the 2023 Maui wildfires, which destroyed one elementary campus in Lahaina. Luckily, school was closed that day so no students were on campus. 

In 2023, lawmakers passed a resolution requesting that the education department create a list of schools with fire alarms in need of repairs, identifying a few campuses where systems had been broken for years. Later that year, a legislative working group focusing on fire safety in schools also found that some campuses lacked automatic fire sprinklers and fire alarms.