Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / Jason Samala, HFD Deputy Fire Chief and Waialua resident, discusses the recent Kona Low storms

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Jason Samala, HFD Deputy Fire Chief and Waialua resident, discusses the recent Kona Low storms · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

• 0:14
  Welcome to the One O'ahu Podcast.
• 0:17
  I'm your host, Brandi Higa.
• 0:18
  And this week we're sitting down
• 0:20
  with Honolulu Fire Department Deputy Chief Jason Samala.
• 0:24
  Chief, I know you're a busy guy, so thanks for making some time for me.
• 0:27
  Yeah. Anytime. Anytime.
• 0:29
  And, chief, we thought it important to sit down with you right now.
• 0:32
  Not just because you're in a leadership position here at the fire department.
• 0:36
  Number two in charge. But.
• 0:38
  But if you could also share with our listeners.
• 0:40
  Chief, where do you live?
• 0:42
  So I just happen to live in Waialua.
• 0:44
  Born and raised there.
• 0:46
  And so first off, is your family.
• 0:48
  Is your home okay? Yeah. Thanks for asking.
• 0:50
  The family is good.
• 0:51
  We're situated in an era where we kind of sit above a lot of the flooding.
• 0:56
  But I have a lot of friends who are impacted.
• 0:58
  So. Yeah.
• 1:00
  Fortunate for us. We're we're not.
• 1:01
  We're in a better place.
• 1:03
  And so, as a resident, if we could just start with that, like you
• 1:05
  said, you know, you've seen a lot and you've grown up there.
• 1:08
  So you know what it looked like before these kind of a flooding events.
• 1:12
  What have your neighbors experience?
• 1:13
  What kind of things have you seen?
• 1:15
  Yeah.
• 1:15
  I mean, first off, you know,
• 1:17
  I mean, after event, you know, we get together, our friends here,
• 1:19
  and they're run into them, and we all share the same stories, right?
• 1:23
  I mean, growing up there, we've never seen,
• 1:26
  this, this level of flooding before.
• 1:28
  I mean, it's it's rain. Hard.
• 1:29
  Been before in the past, but never.
• 1:32
  Never to the extent of the damage that it produce.
• 1:35
  And we're not sure why.
• 1:37
  The area looked a lot different back then, right?
• 1:39
  Obviously, there are sugar cane fields all over the place.
• 1:41
  Wasn't as populated.
• 1:42
  I mean, the existing homes are always there, but as far as,
• 1:46
  you know, the existing farm fields.
• 1:48
  Yeah, those are the sugarcane fields in the past.
• 1:51
  And so I want to get your reaction as someone who has seen that area
• 1:54
  throughout the years,
• 1:55
  your reaction to the collaboration, you know, community helping community,
• 1:58
  neighbor, helping even really city, state and federal coming together.
• 2:02
  What kind of collaboration did you see on your reaction?
• 2:05
  Yeah.
• 2:05
  Well, first and foremost, for the community side,
• 2:08
  it was just amazing to see the outpouring of support.
• 2:11
  It's just so true.
• 2:13
  Alive and well is a little spirit, right?
• 2:15
  I mean,
• 2:15
  these are the only community members, but people coming from outside
• 2:18
  of the community coming to help.
• 2:19
  That's what I noticed.
• 2:21
  And it was literally a day after.
• 2:23
  I mean, I remember leaving the home, to go
• 2:26
  get on and run some errands, and there was major traffic jams.
• 2:30
  And then she thought was, okay, maybe because of the debris fields and whatnot,
• 2:33
  but it was just because the people were coming in.
• 2:36
  And walking to areas
• 2:37
  where I needed help or just it was just kind of unbelievable to see.
• 2:41
  And that's at the community level.
• 2:43
  And that's like pulse event.
• 2:45
  Oh, it's
• 2:45
  I kind of dive a little bit into maybe on the respondent side on the day of,
• 2:49
  and we heard a lot of it, right, that obviously the committee members
• 2:52
  were upset and stuff like that. I mean,
• 2:54
  and, and we're doing the best we can.
• 2:56
  The government as a whole was doing the best you can.
• 2:58
  And I do have to give it to the committee members.
• 3:02
  They took a big part of it as as well.
• 3:04
  I mean, you know, they had some heavy machinery and stuff
• 3:07
  available for them, which really help, and doing their part.
• 3:11
  But, I can say if, if they weren't involved, they,
• 3:14
  they didn't get involved when they needed to.
• 3:17
  Maybe it could have been a lot worse because we were stretched
• 3:19
  and we were doing everything we could as well.
• 3:22
  Yeah.
• 3:22
  I mean, if you could take us a little deeper,
• 3:23
  I'm sure you've heard stories of rescues, heroism that didn't make their way
• 3:28
  onto the evening news or or even on Instagram because your guys,
• 3:32
  your personnel here at the Honolulu Fire Department,
• 3:34
  they're not out there in the field with their phones out.
• 3:37
  So what kind of stories, you know, do you think our listeners need to hear?
• 3:41
  Yeah, yeah.
• 3:42
  And I'm just speaking from the from the far Side.
• 3:44
  I'm sure there's a lot more, rescues every made, by police.
• 3:49
  And other first responders.
• 3:50
  But, and I'll speak just from where it was at Otaki camp.
• 3:54
  Okay. And just a little background, right?
• 3:56
  I mean, that's one of the first calls that went out,
• 3:58
  to Otaki camp because that arrows fly and there was a need to evacuate that area.
• 4:02
  And I just happened to live, like, literally 1 or 2 minutes away.
• 4:05
  So I was made aware of it.
• 4:06
  I kind of went out there
• 4:07
  to kind of assist the incident commander, who was at scene,
• 4:11
  and just from from that area alone.
• 4:15
  I think there are roughly about 15 rescues just within that camp area.
• 4:19
  And so some of the stories that, yeah, it doesn't make the news,
• 4:22
  you won't hear about it, maybe not even on, on on the social media.
• 4:25
  My guys are very humble, right?
• 4:27
  They don't want to talk about what what they did or and who they saved.
• 4:30
  And when I was this kind of part of their job.
• 4:33
  But the stories that I, I heard of and actually seeing some of the results of it
• 4:37
  because they were walking people out was, I mean, and one of the big ones was,
• 4:42
  literally there was a house
• 4:43
  that was moving in the water.
• 4:46
  And it's actually you can see it if you were to go down the road
• 4:48
  there to there, it's one of the houses that's, that's perched up against a tree.
• 4:52
  So that house, there was someone in there hanging out the window.
• 4:56
  And just so happened the rescue guy
• 4:58
  migrated to that area and just happened to pull
• 5:00
  that person out of the in time.
• 5:03
  Obviously very kind of, like, put himself in danger as well.
• 5:06
  I mean, the water is moving,
• 5:08
  as it moves around trees and homes and cars whatnot.
• 5:11
  It creates these eddies and different currents and all that.
• 5:14
  So, I mean, you know, I could say there there are some close calls
• 5:18
  on our part as well as far as the first responders
• 5:20
  getting themselves potentially into trouble.
• 5:22
  But that's one of the, one of the, one of the stories I've heard is
• 5:25
  others were companies were not a little talkie camp,
• 5:28
  maybe down the side or elsewhere in Wailua,
• 5:31
  where they get this special one call. Right?
• 5:34
  And they go on there and they affect the rescue,
• 5:36
  where as simple as just pulling someone out of the house and walking them,
• 5:39
  to higher ground
• 5:40
  because the water is living up to chassis, maybe in some areas up to their neck,
• 5:44
  you know, and then and then leaving that scene
• 5:46
  and before I can get this actual another claw, they're,
• 5:48
  they're just jumping from house to house, from area to area, right.
• 5:51
  As, as they see people waving them down and whatnot.
• 5:54
  And there's, there's multiple stories of that.
• 5:55
  And like I said, it's just from the fire side.
• 5:57
  I'm sure EMS and and PD have have similar stories.
• 6:01
  But those are just just a handful of,
• 6:02
  that, that I have heard, but you probably won't see or hear anywhere else.
• 6:07
  And so a story that we did see was that
• 6:09
  you also suffered damage, in in regards to the way the fire station.
• 6:14
  What's the latest with that station?
• 6:15
  Yeah.
• 6:16
  So we're we're back
• 6:17
  in, and I got to give it to, you know, Department of Facility Maintenance,
• 6:21
  Department of Information Technology and all the other departments help support
• 6:25
  the move back in,
• 6:27
  housing.
• 6:27
  And right now the kitchen is still being renovated.
• 6:30
  But we're responding out of there.
• 6:32
  It's it's business as usual. So what happens?
• 6:34
  You know, it takes on flood water
• 6:36
  and then that's a company that still has to be on calls that night.
• 6:40
  Yeah.
• 6:41
  So they yeah,
• 6:43
  they just kind of just hang out until they have their temporary station set up.
• 6:45
  And you know, how does that work logistically.
• 6:48
  Yeah.
• 6:49
  So so right I mean going back they they dispatch they got dispatch
• 6:52
  earlier or later that evening on March 19th.
• 6:55
  They never went home.
• 6:56
  I guess the maritime. Right.
• 6:58
  Meanwhile, the station's been flooded out.
• 7:01
  So in the interim, what ended up happening, at least for that Saturday
• 7:04
  and the Sunday, we brought down what we call our mobile command center,
• 7:09
  and they're kind of like holes in there for a little while.
• 7:11
  We rotated companies every so many hours to give them some, some rest,
• 7:16
  and then bring in fresh new companies, until you get something stood
• 7:19
  up, on Monday, May see two days later with a temporary shelter.
• 7:22
  And that actually was located at the Wild District Park.
• 7:25
  So, fortunately, Department of Parks and Rec will also be there.
• 7:30
  I know, we know the community center was being set up at the same time,
• 7:33
  but it allowed us enough time, for the station to get restored.
• 7:37
  I'll also get back into it, and then open up the entire parking lot.
• 7:41
  And you kind of alluded to this about, you know, trucks
• 7:45
  being out a different Kohl's and then having to, you know, respond
• 7:47
  to another call on their way back when they're called.
• 7:48
  But what kind of resources it have to contribute during these storms.
• 7:52
  We keep hearing about how,
• 7:53
  you know, at one point nearly every fire station was out.
• 7:56
  Yeah, it was pretty busy.
• 7:58
  I went back and looked at some of the stats.
• 8:00
  So, and I'll just kind of rattle off of some of them.
• 8:03
  So, you know, just just in Waialua alone.
• 8:06
  And, you know, I have to acknowledge there are other parts of Island.
• 8:08
  There were flat as well.
• 8:09
  There's major flooding go down on the west side and,
• 8:13
  as well as more so that the mean Kahuku area and all that.
• 8:16
  But just in the Wailua, however much clearer
• 8:20
  there were about 23 resources committed.
• 8:22
  So that's that's roughly about 25%, little bit more than 25%
• 8:26
  of a lot of resources within the department.
• 8:29
  So that's
• 8:30
  quite a bit of resources coming into one geographic area.
• 8:33
  Right. Within that area alone. Right.
• 8:35
  We received about 174 911 calls,
• 8:39
  a bulk of them happening within a minute to about one two in the morning side.
• 8:43
  And then through that we dispatch about 82 companies or 82
• 8:47
  dispatchers, meaning like, you know,
• 8:50
  call comes in, we turn out the station, we send the company out.
• 8:54
  So roughly equates to about 82 dispatchers.
• 8:56
  And like I said, it's probably a lot higher if you count every single,
• 9:00
  house or area that they're responding to, but they're just kind of like
• 9:03
  hopscotching here and there as a as they became available
• 9:08
  and resource wise.
• 9:09
  Yeah, I mean, we had almost every resource, there or engines,
• 9:14
  in fact, we had something we called on our drone team.
• 9:16
  We also included external resources.
• 9:18
  So we had EMS, they had their mid cap there,
• 9:22
  the state crash and then one of their vehicles,
• 9:25
  we had National Guard high water vehicles.
• 9:28
  We actually
• 9:29
  even called on the ocean safety and they deployed one of their, jet skis.
• 9:34
  So we had a quite a bit of resources are committed.
• 9:36
  And so what kind of things do you think we've learned?
• 9:39
  You know, yourself as a fire department,
• 9:41
  but also as local government, the community in general.
• 9:43
  What kind of things have we learned from these weather events?
• 9:46
  Well, I can speak from the public safety, side of the city,
• 9:51
  that the collaboration among all of us in this kind of sense
• 9:55
  of a unified command to respond to such a large incident
• 9:59
  was extremely important and key,
• 10:03
  especially like this weather event.
• 10:04
  Right? It's extremely unpredictable.
• 10:06
  This is like the we're talking about kind of Connell Connell the number two.
• 10:09
  But prior to that. Right. Number one.
• 10:11
  Then we went through number two with the devastating effects.
• 10:14
  And then there was a number three that just kind of ended recently.
• 10:17
  Right.
• 10:19
  But through all that is this collaboration coordination,
• 10:22
  which was extremely important
• 10:24
  to understand where we are as far as resources, capabilities,
• 10:28
  understand what our role is going to be in this particular situation
• 10:31
  and then this coordination, all the pre-game that happens prior to the event,
• 10:35
  was, for me, one of the biggest learning experiences that when it does work
• 10:39
  and it does take some effort prior to the event coming in,
• 10:42
  the thing that made one a little number two interesting was,
• 10:47
  no one really expected the amount of rainfall that came down.
• 10:50
  So in some sense it was one of those where, yes, we were prepared.
• 10:54
  But unlike Kona Low one and the cold put all the number three,
• 10:59
  we didn't necessarily have resources stage,
• 11:00
  so it's almost like we were responding out of the gate in a sense.
• 11:04
  Right.
• 11:04
  But I think if we didn't have that
• 11:06
  collaboration, it could all number one in other events prior to that,
• 11:09
  it could have been a lot worse as far as the command
• 11:12
  and coordination of all of that.
• 11:14
  As far as the community support.
• 11:16
  Yeah.
• 11:17
  You know, it's just
• 11:17
  and and we see it sometimes, right, as one of the four as we go to, I mean,
• 11:21
  or some major disasters.
• 11:24
  It's just the innate uniqueness of, of the community.
• 11:28
  Right?
• 11:28
  They're going to come out and they're going to help each other where they can,
• 11:31
  and yeah, I got to say, I mean, it,
• 11:37
  even though we're we're doing our thing is for spotters
• 11:40
  to see them come out and helping each other like that.
• 11:42
  It really does help us in that sense, because because we know
• 11:46
  there is another set of eyes who are watching out for the people
• 11:48
  we're trying to serve in that save you. Yeah.
• 11:51
  And so what's your advice for residents ahead of the next disaster?
• 11:54
  Because really it's not a matter of if but when.
• 11:56
  Yeah.
• 11:57
  And I know the department emergency managers always appreciate it.
• 11:59
  And and we do to just always stay prepared.
• 12:03
  If we're talking about whether it's extremely unpredictable.
• 12:06
  Right.
• 12:06
  And, and I have a list here that I know our community, relations office
• 12:10
  and our public information officer always kind of major.
• 12:13
  So I'll kind of read iterated.
• 12:15
  Especially, you know, it's kind of common sense things, right?
• 12:18
  I mean, so this particular flooding,
• 12:20
  I mean, get to the highest level if trapped in the building, right.
• 12:24
  Only get on the roof if necessary.
• 12:25
  Once there, signal for help.
• 12:28
  Do not climb into a closed attic to avoid getting trapped by the rising waters.
• 12:33
  Know your proximity to rivers, streams and dams.
• 12:37
  During heavy rain, avoid underpasses, underground parking garages and basements.
• 12:42
  Avoid hiking or camping.
• 12:43
  If thunderstorms are predicted.
• 12:45
  Develop an evacuation plan for your family.
• 12:48
  Don't walk in water above your ankles.
• 12:50
  You can be swept off your feet in as little as six inches of rushing water,
• 12:54
  and turn off the electricity and other utilities.
• 12:57
  If possible.
• 12:58
  I mean, there's so much common sense things, but
• 13:00
  but in that moment where you're not thinking about that.
• 13:02
  So it's
• 13:04
  hate to say it, you know, but sometimes you have to be a doomsday prepper.
• 13:07
  You have to think about the worst possible,
• 13:09
  scenarios, and they prepare you and yourself for it.
• 13:13
  You had mentioned living in the area and not seeing anything like this happen
• 13:16
  before, but just out of this area.
• 13:18
  In your career in the fire service, how does this incident
• 13:22
  or maybe these two incidents, you know, they kind of call it another 1 or 2.
• 13:24
  How does this compare to any of the other, you know, larger incidents
• 13:27
  that you've experienced throughout your career?
• 13:29
  Yeah, it's a career wise.
• 13:31
  I mean, I would say,
• 13:34
  as far as a geographic area and this kind of coordination and command
• 13:38
  and control sense is definitely the biggest hit in my career.
• 13:43
  What makes this one so unique?
• 13:45
  And then extremely fortunate that no one, no one got killed, right?
• 13:49
  There was no known loss of life.
• 13:51
  But just in a sense of an incident.
• 13:54
  I mean, it is such a large area.
• 13:58
  And our resources are stretched thin.
• 13:59
  I mean, it's this kind of what we call it MCI, right?
• 14:01
  A mass casualty incident.
• 14:03
  But at the geographic level, right. It is.
• 14:06
  Then it comes down to just managing your resources properly.
• 14:08
  Right?
• 14:09
  In this case, right.
• 14:10
  It's not like you could send everyone down,
• 14:13
  because they couldn't get to everyone, right?
• 14:14
  The water was high in the air
• 14:15
  and in some areas, and we didn't have the equipment
• 14:17
  or resources to, to, to get to the individuals.
• 14:20
  This is where I really have to credit as well, our dispatchers,
• 14:24
  all the people in the in the dispatch centers at nine one call takers,
• 14:29
  I was
• 14:29
  able to listen to some of the recordings that our personnel were taking and,
• 14:33
  and trying to keep them calm, you know, in that moment.
• 14:38
  But sheer panic.
• 14:40
  And you can just visualize based on the based on what they're saying,
• 14:43
  the trembling under voices you've been screaming, right.
• 14:45
  What their what the people are going through.
• 14:49
  But yeah, incident wise, this is in my career.
• 14:51
  This is probably one of the, the the largest.
• 14:54
  Yeah.
• 14:55
  And I know that you had mentioned that night, but even the 24 hours following,
• 15:00
  when I'll talk at camp initially was underwater.
• 15:03
  There was a you know, a rescue call for Our Lady of Cairo,
• 15:06
  and your guys responded, you know, there's
• 15:08
  there's incredible pictures coming out of that one.
• 15:10
  And I think it's because there were people with their phones out.
• 15:13
  But you have firefighters carrying dogs.
• 15:15
  Someone was carrying a baby and knee deep water.
• 15:17
  And it takes a lot for,
• 15:19
  you know, a family, a parent to give their baby to somebody else.
• 15:21
  You know, that they are in need of that assistance
• 15:24
  if they themselves can't be taking those out.
• 15:26
  So, you know, when you when you hear those stories,
• 15:29
  what kind of reaction does that elicit?
• 15:31
  And what is your message to those crews that were out there carrying these out?
• 15:36
  I mean, for one, it just shows that the trust that the community has in us, right.
• 15:39
  Like you mentioned, they hand over a child to someone
• 15:41
  that you don't know when you trust in to take your child to safety is one thing.
• 15:47
  Our guys.
• 15:47
  Yeah, we're to show there's a camera there or not there.
• 15:49
  Just focus on the mission at hand.
• 15:51
  And if it's to protect the community
• 15:53
  and save whatever it is they're there, they'll do whatever it takes.
• 15:56
  Well, chief, is there anything that we missed?
• 16:01
  I mean, you know, there's so much more to talk about,
• 16:03
  but I really, you know, we've had a couple days or at least a week
• 16:08
  to kind of let things settle and kind of reflect up on,
• 16:11
  all the last events.
• 16:14
  As, as a community matter member of Waialua,
• 16:17
  as a member of the city county of Honolulu.
• 16:22
  There's so much to learn, but I think in the end,
• 16:25
  this collaboration,
• 16:28
  maybe in their response way with the, with the city
• 16:30
  and then in the recovery phase, seeing the city and the government work
• 16:33
  with the community and how the community came out to help each other
• 16:36
  and now working together to recover,
• 16:39
  has just been truly amazing.
• 16:42
  I think it just, you know, it's it's an interesting world nowadays.
• 16:46
  Right. And and sometimes you got a question is, is a lost.
• 16:48
  We're it's still here but it, it, you know, through through these disasters
• 16:51
  it is proven that it's still alive and well.
• 16:54
  And as we move into hurricane season and, and you know, who knows,
• 16:58
  maybe wildland fire season. Right.
• 16:59
  Because now there is some extra growth because of all the rain.
• 17:03
  I'm confident that we can move towards,
• 17:07
  a safer community by working with the community.
• 17:10
  Chief Samala, thank you so much for your time.
• 17:12
  Thank you.
• 17:13
  And don't forget,
• 17:14
  if you're looking for ways to get help or to give help following the recent
• 17:18
  those storms, we have resources available by heading to one O'ahu dot org.
• 17:22
  Mahalo for listening. And until next time, Aloha!