Great series of shots of Kauai. We go to Kauai every February. My parents have a timeshare at Poipu. My dad brings his scanner to listen to what's going on, so over the last 5 years I've figured out a little of how things work. One of the things I find interesting is that there are no cities in Hawaii. The governments are all run at the county level. So each island (Maui includes Lanai, Molokai, and Kahoolawe) is its own county.
The little brush rigs are known as "Truck" on the air. All the Stations run with crews of at least 4 split between the Engine and the Truck. They respond together on everything. I think, if my memory serves, that what used to be known as Truck 3 (the city service ladder/rescue International/Pierce) is now called Rescue 3 on the air, but they just haven't bothered to change the paint on the rig.
Station 1 has the International/Pierce Engine so they can access what's north of the one lane bridge at Hanalei. There's a 15 ton weight limit, so normal firefighting apparatus isn't getting over. Any of the other companies will stop, park their Engines, and ride the rest of the way north over the bridge in the Trucks. So with any fire north of the Hanalei bridge, you are only getting Engine 1.
Kauai is really rural with many unimproved dirt roads. The stations are pretty spread out, so a lot of the firefighting there is just mitigation, since structures are pretty well gone by the time crews get on the scene. Areas the Engines can't get to are accessed by the Trucks. For example, we drove the road all the way up Waimea Canyon. There was an EMS call at the very top of the road. We saw all 4 of Engine 7's crew come all the way up the canyon road (about a 30-45 minute response time) in Truck 7 only. I imagine it would've taken Engine 7 forever to climb the hill, so they just took the Truck.
The lifeguards there are also part of the fire department. Several beaches around the island are staffed with full time lifeguards.
Looking forward to the rest of the series.
The little brush rigs are known as "Truck" on the air. All the Stations run with crews of at least 4 split between the Engine and the Truck. They respond together on everything. I think, if my memory serves, that what used to be known as Truck 3 (the city service ladder/rescue International/Pierce) is now called Rescue 3 on the air, but they just haven't bothered to change the paint on the rig.
Station 1 has the International/Pierce Engine so they can access what's north of the one lane bridge at Hanalei. There's a 15 ton weight limit, so normal firefighting apparatus isn't getting over. Any of the other companies will stop, park their Engines, and ride the rest of the way north over the bridge in the Trucks. So with any fire north of the Hanalei bridge, you are only getting Engine 1.
Kauai is really rural with many unimproved dirt roads. The stations are pretty spread out, so a lot of the firefighting there is just mitigation, since structures are pretty well gone by the time crews get on the scene. Areas the Engines can't get to are accessed by the Trucks. For example, we drove the road all the way up Waimea Canyon. There was an EMS call at the very top of the road. We saw all 4 of Engine 7's crew come all the way up the canyon road (about a 30-45 minute response time) in Truck 7 only. I imagine it would've taken Engine 7 forever to climb the hill, so they just took the Truck.
The lifeguards there are also part of the fire department. Several beaches around the island are staffed with full time lifeguards.
Looking forward to the rest of the series.
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