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The Administrative Services Bureau (ASB) provides administrative, personnel, logistic, and maintenance support to the fire suppression force. These include:

Providing executive assistance to the Fire Chief
Providing administrative services for all personnel
Developing, reviewing, and controlling the Department's budget
Serving as a liaison between other City departments, government agencies, and private organizations
Developing, implementing, and evaluating procedures and organizational structure
Developing, implementing, and evaluating programs for personnel management, capital improvements, building and equipment maintenance, and property and supplies

The ASB is headed by an Assistant Chief whose staff includes a two Battalion Chiefs, two Fire Captains, an Administrative Services Officer, a Personnel Management Specialist, a Safety Specialist, a Personnel Assistant, and a pool of clerical support staff. The ASB is responsible for overseeing the HFD's operating budget, property and inventory, personnel administration, and the administration of safety and health-related programs such as the Drug and Alcohol Program and the Infectious Disease Program. The HFD's Capital Improvement Project and Community Development Block Grant funds are also under the purview of this bureau.

The Assistant Chief is also responsible to oversee the operations of the Mechanic Shop, the Radio Shop, the Storeroom, and the Occupational Safety and Health Office (OSHO).

Mechanic Shop

The Mechanic Shop is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the HFD's fleet of fire fighting apparatuses: 55 fire fighting pumpers, 10 aerial ladder trucks, 6 quints, specialty apparatuses, 2 rescue apparatuses, 2 hazardous materials response vehicles, 11 tankers, 2 aerial tower apparatuses, one 110-foot fire boat, watercrafts, and approximately 78 auxiliary vehicles. The Mechanic Shop also repairs and maintains over 30,000 pieces of fire fighting equipment and tools, from rescue powered tools and fire hoses to hand lights. Other types of critical services provided by the Mechanic Shop include specialty design and fabrication of custom accessories for fire fighter equipment, apparatus and annual pump testing, aerial ladder testing, and ground ladder testing for fire fighting apparatuses.

The Mechanic Shop is also tasked with the repair and maintenance of the Honolulu Police Department's (HPD) heavy equipment vehicles (10,000 gross vehicle weight) which consists of two Special Weapons and Tactical trucks, one Emergency Management Command truck, and bomb trucks.

The Mechanic Shop staff consists of a Fire Equipment Superintendent, a Fire Equipment Supervisor, a Senior Clerk-Typist, and eight Fire Equipment Mechanics.

Radio Shop

The Radio Shop provides planning, acquisition, maintenance, and repair services for the Department's communication system, City Radio Communication System, and the City Paging System. The Radio Shop also provides repair services for the Oahu Civil Defense Agency (OCDA) and the Honolulu Emergency Services Department's (HESD) Ocean Safety Division.

The Department recently switched to the City's 800 megahertz (MHz) trunking radio system. All existing conventional radios were replaced with new 800 MHz radios. Each fire fighter in fire suppression will be equipped with a portable radio, which will allow the ability to communicate by radio and declare an emergency on the radio should emergency assistance be required.

An Alternate Radio Dispatch System was also installed to back up the primary radio system. If the entire primary radio system or any part of the primary system should fail, this ARD will provide continuous radio communication between the radio dispatchers and the units in the field. It has the capacity to communicate with all of the City's first responders operating on this radio system. All of the Department's radios are equipped with four interoperable talk groups. Communication with any City first responder can easily be accomplished by switching to one of these interoperable talk groups.

The Department's radio system includes five newly acquired very high radio frequencies. Forty new portable radios have been programmed with these frequencies for training exercises conducted by our Training and Research Bureau.

The Radio Shop also services the Department's other electronic equipment such as light bars, sirens, opticoms, pagers, videocassette recorders, and public address amplifiers.

The ACU 1000 Modular Interface/Interconnect System was installed in our Mobile Command Center (MCC) along with the associated radios, which provide interoperable communications between the HFD, HPD, OCDA, HESD's Ocean Safety Division, and other state agencies. The United States Army has loaned the HFD a mobile radio, which will be incorporated into this communication network.

Seven portable radio chargers (multi-bay) were installed in the MCC. Thirty portable radios and 30 extra batteries will be housed in the Mobile Command Center, which can be loaned whenever the MCC is activated.

The Department of Justice awarded the HFD funds to procure communication infrastructure to connect our Department's radio consoles to other City, state, and federal agency radio consoles. This will allow the radio dispatchers to communicate with each other as well as have the ability to connect the radio channels together.

An Auxiliary Communication System is being planned for the Department to be used in the event that our primary communication system is seriously damaged by a catastrophic event. We have acquired surplus portable radios from the HPD and surplus base stations from Oahu Transit Services, Inc., Construction of this radio system is continuing.

In addition to their maintenance and repair duties, the Radio Shop personnel is responsible to test and evaluate new equipment and make recommendations to the Fire Chief.

Storeroom

The Storeroom is the department's central warehouse where equipment and supplies are received, stored, and distributed. Three storekeepers staff the Storeroom. They plan and administer the entire inventory system, including purchasing, record keeping, and warehousing. They are responsible to see that equipment and supplies are issued to the suppression forces in a timely manner and that replacement equipment is available for emergencies.

Storeroom personnel work closely with the Battalion Chief and Fire Captains of ASB. Major purchases for the Department such as turnouts, nozzles, and fire hoses, although distributed through the Storeroom, are made by the ASB staff. The storekeepers purchase less expensive items such as station cleaning supplies, yard cleaning equipment and bedding.

OSHO

The OSHO is responsible for safety and health programs. It is committed to providing the HFD personnel with a safe working environment by providing the highest standards of safety through education, minimizing hazards through engineering, and enforcement of the Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration laws and standards in addition to following established HFD policies and procedures.

The OSHO will periodically review and revise existing policies, procedures, and programs to ensure the safety and health of HFD personnel. It also establishes new safety and health programs to maintain compliance with applicable federal, state, and local safety laws to meet the growing needs of the Department.

Regular Safety Committee meetings are conducted with union representatives to ensure the safety and health of HFD members, establish new safety and health policies, and to update existing programs to minimize employee exposure to hazardous conditions at emergencies and various worksites. It also acts as the Department's liaison on safety and health-based issues.

Monday, May 21, 2007