WAILUA — Kaua‘i Fire Department recruit class 30, Lihu‘e Airport Crash/Fire/Rescue, senior Kaua‘i Fire Department personnel and firefighters from other counties engaged in three consecutive days of training from Wednesday at the former Coco Palms Resort.
WAILUA — Kaua‘i Fire Department recruit class 30, Lihu‘e Airport Crash/Fire/Rescue, senior Kaua‘i Fire Department personnel and firefighters from other counties engaged in three consecutive days of training from Wednesday at the former Coco Palms Resort.
“This is all for the people,” said KFD Battalion Chief Gary Hudson, who dropped in to check on the training that included firefighters from O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island. “We met the instructor, Aaron Fields and Brendan Grace, at a fire conference a few years ago. We knew then that we could use his expertise and knowledge to share with our guys.”
Hudson said KFD Chief Steven Goble took the podium Wednesday leading one of the classes in fire ground operations and firefighting mindset training.
Fields, working in tandem with Grace, took a basic concept of hose management, or deployment, and in addition to breaking it down to fire science, expanded the program to beyond fire science, adding the element of personal involvement such as the difference between being a good leader versus being a good manager.
Students were given opportunities to practice hands-on what Fields and Grace presented, all within the COVID-19 safety and health guidelines currently in effect, including the use of face masks.
“This is really good,” said KFD Firefighter Jacob Minei. “We never had the chance to get training like this.”
Hudson said Goble is a good instructor after hearing him present Wednesday.
“And, the best part is, thanks to the Coco Palms Hui LLC, we get to do this at the Coco Palms,” Hudson said.
Now if we could only get the military to practice demolition exercises there and permanently remove this perpetual eyesore from our island. Then the fire department could burn the remaining rubble and continue their training.
Why don’t they burn the whole place down? This place is a total eyesore and needs to be burned down. When’s the last time you were on the property? This place is dangerous…the building materials were created over 70 years ago. No competent general contractor would retrofit with those materials. This place will never be a hotel or affordable housing….it’s in a flood zone and too close to the highway. Come on…this is holy grounds and needs to be Kauai Historical Museum and school for all Hawaiians. So…firefighters….please burn it down to the ground….accidentally….of course!