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Injecting $20 million into the state’s wildland firefighting budget, getting tougher on arson and resurrecting the state fire marshal’s office are among the steps lawmakers took to combat future wildfires during the 2024 legislative session.

But of the more than 40 recommendations made by the to help rectify the state’s longstanding lack of investment in wildfire prevention, only 15 made it into proposed legislation, with less than a handful passing this session.

Lawmakers said they are banking on the soon-to-be reinstated fire marshal to address many of the proposed solutions that ended up on the cutting room floor, such as improving building standards and increasing public education about fire risks. Some additional recommendations were funded through the state budget or do not require legislation to address.

Hawaii disbanded its state fire marshal in 1979, making it the only U.S. state without a state-level entity to coordinate fire investigation and prevention activities between local agencies. The State Fire Council, the marshal’s replacement, has played a stripped-down role in its place.

The funding set aside for the marshal’s office, which is expected to spearhead state efforts to prevent another Lahaina, is already causing concern though. Lawmakers set aside $172,000 for the marshal’s office, which is supposed to pay for the fire marshal’s salary, one administrative assistant and general operation costs.

“We just wanted to take a first step by re-creating the position” and have the marshal “report back to us on what additional resources might be needed,” said Rep. Linda Ichiyama, House Wildfire Prevention Working Group co-chair.  

Co-chairs Ichiyama and Rep. Darius Kila said they are pleased with how many of the working group’s wide-ranging recommendations resulted in funding or legislation, especially considering early concerns that the Maui recovery costs would ravage the state budget.

“I think a lot of people’s concern was that this report was going to end up on some bookshelf to collect dust,” Kila said. “So I am truly happy to share that we took very responsive action.”

But State Fire Council Administrative Specialist Gary Lum does not give the session a high grade for fire prevention, especially for the council’s priorities.

“I would have to say a C,” Lum said.

Significant Action Needed

The House formed six interim working groups in September to make recommendations for state changes in the aftermath of the Aug. 8 fires. The groups were centered on specific issues, including wildfire prevention, environmental remediation, housing and schools.

The wildfire prevention group’s recommendations focused on minimizing wildfire fuels, reducing the number of fires started, engaging and protecting communities, fighting fires, post-fire response and research.

Finding a way to rebuild the State Fire Marshal’s Office was a key recommendation — one that gained support from legislators in both chambers.

The marshal will be tasked with working alongside law enforcement and county fire departments to coordinate fire protection across the state. The marshal will also review state fire codes, investigate fires, assess Hawaii’s firefighting resources, evaluate fire risks, seek funding and oversee training, among other things. The state fire marshal, unlike other states, will not have law enforcement powers.

Lawmakers allocated $120,000 for the marshal’s salary — equal to a fire captain’s salary, a mid-level county position. County fire chiefs earn between $143,000 and $224,000.

“I expect that’ll present a challenge for us to find a competent candidate,” said Lum of the State Fire Council. 

The council suggested a $150,000 salary, which was “still a bit low,” Lum said. 

The Legislature also appropriated funds for an administrative support position in the marshal’s office, with a $40,000 salary, along with $12,000 for operational costs. 

House Bill 1842 is one bill that may fall under the marshal’s purview, under its role of collaborating with law enforcement. on days of heightened wildfire risk. Such a felony carries a maximum fine of up to $10,000 and five years in prison.

Lawmakers also increased the penalties associated with violating the state’s fire protection laws, such as complying with fire codes and building standards. The maximum fine for violating those laws has been lifted to $2,500, from $500, and can accrue for each day those infractions are unresolved. Violations can also result in up to 30 days imprisonment.

More Time And Research Needed

Sen. Glenn Wakai introduced the successful fire marshal bill but believes the state’s work is far from done.

“We learned a heck of a lot” about fire since August, he said. “I think all of us as a community are learning about wildfires and what needs to be done to blunt any future wildfires.”

One failed effort that was particularly disappointing to the State Fire Council is its “perennially introduced” bill to restrict the use of consumer fireworks. Fireworks are known ignition sources for wildfires and building fires, Lum said.

Lum said that he was unsure if that bill would be introduced again, given “this session was the session to get it passed,” considering the devastation on Maui.

Among the working group’s recommendations that did not pass were developing ways to stop electrical infrastructure from starting fires, expanding the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency’s network of sirens and having the state coordinate more ecosystem management efforts to help prevent fires.

The working group also recommended a tax increase for lands that are not being properly managed or used by the public. The tax would disincentivize the purchasing of land as an investment for future development — also known as land banking — which has allowed thousands of acres of land to become fallow and overrun with fire-friendly vegetation.

That idea did not make it into the Legislature because it, like many of the others, “needed a little more time” to get done than the lawmakers had available, Ichiyama said.

Forecasting, Prevention And Suppression

The biggest investment the state made in fire prevention this year was a $23 million appropriation to Hawaii’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife for hiring staff, buying equipment and improving vegetation management efforts, which State Fire Protection Forester Mike Walker said he was “very happy to see come in at the last minute.”

DOFAW staff oversee more than 1 million acres of state land and are Hawaii’s only specifically trained wildland firefighters — on top of their roles as foresters.

It is a hefty bump for the division, which over the past decade has received an annual average of $3.2 million to fight wildfires. DOFAW regularly needed to borrow funds from other programs to make ends meet.

Lawmakers set aside a one-time $10 million infusion specifically for DOFAW to upgrade and replace aging equipment across the island chain, and another $1.5 million injection for 22 new permanent staff positions.

Another $7.5 million was allotted to fund wildfire response, rehabilitation and wildfire fuel reduction contracts. The money will also be used to leverage additional funds from the federal government, Walker said at a press conference on Friday.

Lawmakers also allocated $3.5 million in federal funds for emergency equipment as part of , a wildfire mitigation bill.

Many bills relating to wildfire prevention efforts were killed in the Legislature but reappeared in the state budget or SB 3068, such as funding for vegetation management, said Kila, co-chair of the wildfire working group.

One of Kila’s bills, a suggestion from the working group, aimed to support native seed banking initiatives to help fire-affected lands recover and replace invasive grass species with more fire-resistant plants. That bill died, too. 

“I know that there were just some budgetary constraints,” Kila said. “So although that didn’t pass, I am still OK with what we got out of session.”

Lawmakers also allocated funds to the University of Hawaii to map statewide wildfire risks and improve forecasting technologies. That includes $1 million for an artificial intelligence-driven platform that will be able to predict fire risks at a micro level of less than 3,000 square feet — smaller than the average home lot — statewide.

The technology will represent a significant upgrade from Hawaii’s current forecasting system, which formulates the entire state’s red flag warnings based on data from a single weather station at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.

That was “just absolute nonsense,” said Sayed Bateni, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the university and the lead researcher for the project.

Bateni’s product, which is about three years from completion, will eventually be publicly available and will take into consideration nearly every variable that informs fire risk statewide, including the nuances of Hawaii’s microclimates.

Hawaii also joined the Northwest Wildland Fire Protection Agreement Compact on April 30, after lawmakers submitted a concurrent resolution to members of the compact. The compact is a framework for 11 U.S. and Canadian states and territories to collaborate in fire prevention, suppression and control. The agreement brings with it enhanced training opportunities and the ability to rapidly call on other jurisdictions for help when firefighting resources are stretched.

Fire protection forester Walker said the training that will be available to DOFAW foresters will be invaluable and he hopes it will be extended to county firefighters.

Moving forward, recommendations for firefighting improvements that were tabled this session could be reconsidered ahead of the 2025 legislative session, Ichiyama said.

The second of three of the AG’s reports on the Lahaina fires is expected to be published toward the end of the year, which Ichiyama believes may also contain policy recommendations. So Ichiyama wanted to “see how it all works together” with what the working groups have left over.

Civil Beat’s coverage of climate change is supported by the Environmental Funders Group of the Hawaii Community Foundation, Marisla Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.

Civil Beat’s coverage of Maui County is supported in part by a grant from the Nuestro Futuro Foundation.