Under the direction of an Assistant Chief, the Planning and Development (P&D) Division assists the Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief by coordinating the Department's overall short- and long-term planning, operational, and quality improvement processes.

The P&D reviews, researches, and monitors emerging national, State, and City and County legislation, regulations, trends and events, as well as past Department performance, to establish goals and objectives necessary to realize the HFD's mission.

In addition, the P&D is responsible for developing and maintaining other critical Department plans, which include emergency operations/disaster plans, standards of response coverage plans, deployment plans and other risk mitigation, and preparedness strategies.

The Assistant Chief of the P&D is the Department liaison for interagency coordination with the OCDA, the State Civil Defense, and the City's Administration on various island-wide and statewide issues.

Timely, meaningful information is critical for effective and efficient Department management. The P&D monitors and evaluates the functions performed by the records management system and recommends improvements to enhance the Department's data collection and reporting processes. The Management Analyst conducts statistical analyses on all aspects of the Department's operations and establishes benchmarks and performance measures to ensure that goals and objectives are being achieved.

Grant management continues to be an increasingly important function of the P&D. Grant funding allows the Department to improve services to the community by providing for new or additional equipment, training, and resources. The P&D provides the coordination of grant management processes including applications, budgets, procurement, and reporting.

The P&D provides research and development of new programs and evaluates existing programs and services to improve Department efficiency and effectiveness. Over the past year, these included interoperable voice and data communications, improvement of the record management and geographical information systems.

The Assistant Chief of the P&D chairs and oversees the HFD's Board of Inquiry, which is composed of the HFD's Executive Officers and investigates accidents, complaints, personnel matters, and other occurrences that are of a confidential nature.

The P&D also to produce the HFD's newsletter, Hale Ahi News.