After hearing public concerns over slow emergency response times, the county Fire Commission on Tuesday launched a discussion on public versus private medical response services.
The seven-member appointed body also considered the potential advantage of the county’s having its own helicopter for emergencies rather than contracting mostly with island tour companies.
The Kaua‘i Fire Department provides first-responder [...]

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County and state emergency personnel yesterday continued to fight a fire on Napali Coast, officials said.
The blaze, which reportedly started late Saturday night, has scorched more than 50 acres east of Hanakapi‘ai Stream on the North Shore and required the rescue via boat of more than two dozen stranded hikers.
Air-1 joined the battle yesterday to [...]

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Crews use boat in rescue effort
County firefighters and state rescue personnel yesterday evening were extricating hikers stranded by a fire that spread across the rugged Kalalau Trail, Kaua‘i Fire Capt. Kevin Souza said.
The emergency crew was using the Kaua‘i Fire Department’s Zodiac to shuttle an untold number of people from Hanakapi‘ai Beach, which is accessible [...]

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A Kaua’i brushfire burned about 40 acres in Anahola yesterday afternoon. No one was injured and no homes were threatened.
The fire broke out at around 1:45 pm near Kukuihale Road, below the site of a new Department of Hawaiian Home Lands subdivision.
Eleven firefighters from the Kapa’a, Lihu’e and Kalaheo stations and Battalion Chief Teddy Williams [...]

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Firefighters contained a brush fire in Moloa‘a yesterday afternoon after an unattended pile of burning green waste started the blaze.
The 1-acre fire started makai of Ko‘olau Road an eighth of a mile from the Moloa‘a Fruit Stand. A private water tanker and a county Public Works tanker were already on the scene spraying the perimeter [...]

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A 42-year-old man suffered first- and second-degree burns in an early morning fire today on Kaua’i that destroyed a five-bedroom Anahola home.
In a written statement, county officials said the man was injured when he ran back into the burning house to retrieve personal items. He was treated at the scene, taken to Wilcox Hospital and [...]

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