Kauai rescue purchases
ruffle Council’s feathers

The equipment was bought with
money donated by film crews

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By Anthony Sommer
tsommer@starbulletin.com

LIHUE >> The Kauai Fire Department was singed yesterday by the County Council for using donated money to buy rescue equipment without going through either the Council or county purchasing officials.

Fire Chief David Sproat conceded that about $88,500 donated to the Kauai Ocean Rescue Council by numerous film crews was used by the charity to buy three rescue jet skis, three jet rescue boats, two rescue sleds and other rescue equipment.

The charity then donated the equipment to the Fire Department. The charity recently disbanded and was replaced by the Kauai Chapter of the Hawaii Lifeguard Association.

The donations were made by several television and movie crews who "borrowed" the Kauai Fire Department's 17-foot Zodiac, powered by twin 70-horsepower engines, to scout locations along the Na Pali Coast.

The boat also was featured in an episode of "Baywatch Hawaii" filmed on Kauai. And it was used to haul movie crews and equipment during the filming of "Six Days, Seven Nights."

Both on-duty and off-duty firemen crewed the boat. Liability insurance was provided by the film crews, according to fire officials.

The Zodiac, which the Council was complaining about, cost the county nothing in the first place. It was donated to the Kauai Fire Department by actor Sylvester Stallone when he sold his home on Kauai several years ago.

Council Chairman Ron Kouchi said that because the boat is county property and the crew members were county employees, the donations should have gone to the county's general fund to be appropriated by the Council.

And the purchases should have been made through the county, he said.

Councilman Randall Valenciano agreed, saying, "I can't help but believe that the process was bypassed."

Privately, Fire Department officials said that if the donations had gone into the general fund, there was no guarantee the money would be used for the Fire Department or that purchasing officials would have moved quickly to buy the rescue equipment.