A Kohala volunteer fire company is closer to having a new base following an approval for a garage facility by the Leeward Planning Commission on Thursday.
The planned 2,000-square-foot maintenance, gear storage and training facility 7 miles west of Waimea will become home to the Anekona Ouli Kanehoa Volunteer Fire Company, and a place to house two fire trucks now parked at a residence.
There is more distance to go before the facility becomes a reality, but a significant amount of donated time has already been invested, said Guido Giacometti, president of the fire company, after the commission unanimously approved a special permit allowing the project to move ahead.
While the facility doesn’t fit the description of a manned fire station, the company of 14 volunteers will base there and train at the 3-acre site four to five times a month. The company is equipped with two brush trucks — one of them a heavy duty Army surplus water tanker capable of entering rough terrain to fight the brush fires that tend to crop up in the area.
“It’s not a fire station but it will make it easier for the company to mount up and get out,” said Giacometti.
The company has a 99-year lease at $1 per year for the property, located west of the Anekona Estates subdivision in Ouli. Architectural and design work for the facility has been done for free. Giacometti said substantial fundraising for the project remains ahead, but a grant from the Richard Smart Fund and a $20,000 appropriation last session by the state Legislature will get site work underway once the money is released.
“The storage and training facility is critical,” said commission chairman Brandi Beaudet. “We need to see these types of activities taking place in our community.”
Giacometti said such facilities normally cost around $400,000, but he estimated that in-kind contributions will help the company accomplish the work for half that cost.
“It’s a great community effort, and well needed,” Commissioner Keith Unger said after the meeting.
