HILO — The only Coast Guard cutter stationed on Hawaii Island will be leaving Hilo today for its new home port on Guam.
The departure of the USCGC Kiska — which was stationed in Hilo for 27 years — and its crew of two officers and 14 enlisted personnel leaves the Big Island with only two shore-based Coast Guard personnel. Their duties encompass inspections and investigations, not the open-ocean search and water rescues for which Big Islanders have come to depend on from the Coast Guard.
Mayor Harry Kim said he spoke with the Coast Guard on Friday morning and was reassured there is a contingency plan to cover search-and-rescue missions that are beyond the capabilities of the Hawaii Fire Department.
“I have only one concern. I want to make sure they know our dependence on them for anything on water,” Kim said. “… I need assurances that in their contingency plan, they’ll be able to respond in a timely manner when we’re in need of help. I have the confidence that they will dispatch (search units). The only difference is in timeliness to get here.”
The Fire Department’s search-and-rescue crews will still cover near-shore operations, the mayor said, but the island will still need assistance with open-ocean missions.
“Our resources are not made for any more than a mile (offshore), especially in a sustained search,” Kim said.
Kim, who was county Civil Defense administrator for 24 years before first becoming mayor in 2000, said the Coast Guard informed his current Civil Defense chief, Talmadge Magno, of its plans before Kim was made aware of them on Thursday.
Magno said he’s known about the guard’s plans for a couple of months.
“The Fire Department fills a void. That’ll be covered,” Magno said. “The longer-range fishermen, boats that are farther out than the capacity of the Fire Department, that might get affected. But the Coast Guard’s got their aircraft. They’ll launch those, as well. I don’t have all the data on the effectiveness of the Kiska when it was here in Hilo, but they’re trying to make sure they still got the coverage with the extended patrols of the new-type ships that they have out of Honolulu.”
Petty Officer 3rd Class Amanda Levasseur, a Coast Guard spokeswoman stationed in Honolulu, said there eventually will be three new 154-foot fast-response cutters, each costing $65 million, within two to three years. They will replace the older 110-foot island-class cutters, including the Kiska. All will be homeported at Sand Island in Honolulu.