Fire Department brass call Kakaako home

New HFD facility has hot technology and warm touches

HALE KINAI AHI, the first headquarters building in the Honolulu Fire Department's 155-year history, was to open for business today.

Top HFD officers and the staffs of the administrative, operations and fire prevention divisions will work in the three-story building at the corner of South and Queen streets.

Fire Chief Kenneth Silva and headquarters staff members worked over the holiday weekend to set up their offices and cubicles, unloading some of the hundreds of boxes moved from the former offices in leased space in the airport industrial area.

The $15.5 million building contains sophisticated electronics and security programs, such as Internet and wireless optical communications and a smart-card secure access system, and will serve as a "new technology test bed" for other city departments, according to the Fire Department Web page at www.honolulufire.org.

The building's name, which means "firehouse" in Hawaiian, is taken from language in the 1851 ordinance that established the Honolulu Fire Department, according to the Web page.

The exterior was designed to reflect the historical surroundings, said Lorrin Matsunaga, of Urban Works architects. The Royal Brewery building is two doors down, he said, and across the street is Mission Lane with old structures leading to Kawaiaha'o Church a block away.

The headquarters sits between the old Kakaako fire station of 1929 vintage, which is being restored as an HFD museum, and the current Kakaako station, which puts the top echelon, promoted beyond their firehouse beginnings, close enough to hear the alarms and sirens again as Engine Company 9 rolls out.

Matsunaga said panels of coral-colored sandstone from India were used "to give some warmth" and offset the "institutional" look of the gray exterior. Okada Trucking Ltd. was the general contractor.

An old maintenance warehouse has been demolished to provide 60 parking stalls at the back of the complex.

The entrance lobby contains a mural depicting firefighters in action at fires and rescues in scenes based on photographs, said Battalion Chief John Leong. He said Fire Department members, including Ed Hunter, Peter Finnegan and Gary Atud, designed the mural, which also shows fire engines down through the years.

A first-floor meeting room with an audiovisual system and potential seating for 200 people will be used for training, promotion ceremonies and other activities. A small kitchen is attached to provide for special events, said Leong, but the headquarters building is not equipped to provide the substantial, island gourmet meals for which firefighter-chefs are famous.