Pohakuloa Police Captain Depont reported to me
at my phone request of 8:50 PM on 2/6/26 that the fire is
still burning at Pohakuloa. I first got a report from a
civilian in the area at 3:15 PM that a fire was burning at
PTA. Please follow up. Mahalo.
Jim Albertini
--
Jim Albertini Malu 'Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola'a (Kurtistown) Hawai'i 96760
Phone 808-966-7622 Email j...@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org
2/4/26
Press Release: Malu-Aina -- Jim Albertini
808-966-7622
j...@malu-aina.org
Hawaii Island is under extreme drought
conditions. Pohakuloa is a dry windy area, and now it appears
no functioning fire department and emergency service. In the
past days 1000 Marines have been training at Pohakuloa.
Please look into this dangerous situation. Mahalo. Jim
Albertini of Malu 'Aina 2/4/26
I just tried to phone the following numbers at
Pohakuloa from their website (https://home.army.mil/pohakuloa/)
with no response:
Public Affairs --808-787-7839
HQ -- 808-787-7144
Safety -- 808-787-7847
Operations -- 808-787-7804
Logistics -- 808-969-2504
Natural Resources --808-787-7676
PTA Police -- 808-787-7836
Tech Management -- 808-787-7808
"From
the Federal Fire Fighters of Hawai`i Union, Local 263:
Today 1/28/26 the
Army has made the terrible decision to shutdown the Fire and
Emergency Services for Pohakuloa Training Area due to the lack
of proper staffing . The U.S. Army has refused to hire new
firefighters despite an ongoing staffing shortage. As a
result, today marks the first day that the station will be
completely shut down, with all personnel placed on
administrative leave beginning at 1500 hours.
At present, there
are approximately 1,000 Marines actively training in the area.
This decision leaves
a significant portion of Hawaiʻi Island without fire
protection coverage and places the public, critical
infrastructure, and natural resources at serious risk.
The State of Hawaiʻi
and the County of Hawaiʻi must be made aware that this
situation creates an unacceptable public safety hazard. The
Army currently maintains a mutual aid agreement with the
County to provide fire response coverage between mile markers
17 and 47 on Daniel K. Inouye Highway, commonly known as
Saddle Road. With the station shut down, this coverage can no
longer be reliably provided.
This development is
especially concerning given that negotiations are currently
underway between the State and the Army regarding an extended
lease.
This level of
operational failure is not indicative of a partnership that
Hawaiʻi can depend on to ensure public safety.
I have met with
representatives from the Governor’s Office to request that any
future agreements include strict minimum requirements for
firefighter staffing levels and apparatus capabilities,
including specified water gallonage, to ensure adequate fire
protection. These standards are essential for an area of this
size, complexity, and risk profile.
For years, we have
advocated for proper staffing levels commensurate with the
scale and hazards of this jurisdiction. In the past, an acting
Fire Chief was formally reported after authorizing an illegal
backburn during a training-related wildfire, which resulted in
the destruction of thousands of acres and the loss of
endangered species unique to that area."
PTA is zoned a conservation district, the
highest protected land status. In the final EIS on the PTA
lease, the military admitted starting 1281 wildfires at PTA in
the last 50 years. They add, that records prior to 2012 are
incomplete so the actual number of fires could be much
higher. The military also added that with increasing extremes
in climate change, the likelihood of wildfires will only
increase.
--
Jim Albertini Malu 'Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola'a (Kurtistown) Hawai'i 96760
Phone 808-966-7622 Email j...@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org
