Fire official
in hot water

A battalion chief will lose
3 work shifts for having
sex on duty

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By Rod Antone
rantone@starbulletin.com

The Honolulu Fire Department has suspended one of its battalion chiefs for having sex at a fire station while on duty.

Fire officials said Battalion Chief James J. Arciero admitted to having sex twice in his private quarters at the Waikiki Fire Station along Kapahulu Avenue.

Fire Chief Attilio K. Leonardi said the conduct was inappropriate and breaches HFD's rules and regulations and that Arciero would be suspended for three 24-hour work shifts as well as be transferred to another work assignment.

Arciero also offered to submit his resignation but was refused by Leonardi.

"Battalion Chief James Arciero is a career firefighter as well as a trusted chief officer," Leonardi said yesterday in a news release.

"He admits his error in judgment and willing(ly) accepts the consequences."

The fire chief was responding to an anonymous letter faxed to the news media Tuesday night. The one-page memo states that it was written on behalf of "several wives of Honolulu firefighters" who were assigned to the Waikiki station.

Fire officials said Arciero, a 53-year-old widower, admitted to having consensual sex with one woman on two occasions while on duty at the station.

The faxed message also alleged that Arciero arrived to work drunk after a golf function two months ago.

However, HFD officials said that while Arciero did stop by the fire station that day, he was not on duty.