JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Firefighter George Kaopuiki watched flames billow from the new fire simulator at the Charles H. Thurston Fire Training Center yesterday. The demonstration was part of the conveyance ceremony of the fee-simple title of HFD's training center on Valkenburgh Street from the Navy to the city.

---

HFD gains
ownership of land

The training center lot was under
a 25-year lease from the Navy

After more than 25 years of leasing from the U.S. Navy, the Honolulu Fire Department will finally own the land under the Charles H. Thurston Fire Training Center.

The conveyance means HFD can one day get rid of its portable classrooms and make other improvements on the 5.6 acres at 890 Valkenburgh St.

Fire Chief Attilio Leonardi said he had asked the City Council for money to make upgrades back in 1994 but was denied by councilmembers who did not want to pour money into a facility that they were going to lose in less than two decades.

"They said back then, 'You only have 12 years left on your lease, so no,'" Leonardi said. "After that we looked for another location but couldn't find any. And if we did, it was out in the boonies like at Campbell Industrial Park."

He added, "I thought this day would never come."

---

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Sen. Daniel Inouye proudly held the honorary-firefighter hat he received from fire Chief Attilio Leonardi, right, yesterday as part of the conveyance ceremony.

---

Leonardi and Mayor Mufi Hannemann thanked the U.S. Navy and U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye for making the transfer of ownership possible. Inouye and other congressional delegates pushed for the National Defense Authorization Act, which the president signed last year, that allowed the secretary of the Navy to transfer the Valkenburgh property to the city.

In exchange, federal firefighters will continue to train at the facility, and city firefighters will continue to respond to emergencies in naval housing in the Salt Lake and Aliamanu area.

"It's a great partnership," said U.S. Navy Capt. Rick Roth, commanding officer for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii. "They have certainly proven their worth over the years."

Originally, the Navy had allowed the city to lease the land in 1979 for a dollar. However, that 25-year lease expired last year, and Navy officials said they were prohibited from giving the city another similar deal.

"In the old days, the laws were more liberal back then," said Stanford Yuen, executive assistant for the commander of Navy Region Hawaii. "We can't just give it to them; it has to be fair market value."

Now that the city owns the land, Leonardi said he plans on asking the City Council for $1.2 million to plan and design a new training center, and eventually another $12 million to build it. Leonardi said future improvements include a physical fitness/recreation center, a building for classrooms and facilities for new recruits.

The current training center facilities are well used: The HFD, other county firefighters and federal and state firefighters train here.

"It's booked for the next two years, I think," HFD spokesman Kenison Tejada said. "We're using that place almost every day."