Hilo Fire Prevention Week 2012

HWMO set up a display booth and handed out materials at this year's Fire Prevention Week at the Bayfront in Hilo. The incredible event was organized by Fire Inspector, Kazuo Todd, and his Hilo staff. In addition to great information and knowledge sharing at the event, great music was provided by Big Time R&B of Honoka'a, in which our very own Orlando Smith was the drummer for, and a Bucket Brigade Competition was put on. We took third place, certainly a great finish, but we are already fired up for next year's event!

Banner photo: A Paauilo Fireman watches with son a structure fire demonstration.

U.N. Peace Day Parade

We took part in the only U.N. parade in Hawai'i and were greeted by Ming Sha, a UN Representative from China, who viewed our booth located at the Rice Building along the parade route. She was very impressed with our projects that we had displayed on our board. We gave away countless "Ready, Set, Go!", "Firewise", and HWMO-related handouts along with school supplies for the keiki. To entice and thank our guests, we provided coffee, tea, muffins, and cookies! If you were there, you may have saw a large Firewise banner hanging outside of our building, another draw for our wonderful visitors!

Banner photo: Nalani Ludwig, representing HWMO in Sept. 2012 at the UN Peace Day Parade in Honokaa, shows off our Smokey bookmark and "Ready, Set, Go!" guide along with our poster board and other handouts.

EMS 5K Fun Run

HWMO participated in this annual fundraiser at Liliuokalani Gardens in Hilo, partnering with firefighters and EMS personnel. Many prominent figures also participated, including the Fire Chief, Mayor, Civil Defense Director, County Council members and politicians running, no pun intended, for office in the State and OHA and for Governor.

Banner photo: Nalani Ludwig presenting our booth for the day.

After Dark in the Park

HWMO traveled down to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to give a talk at the Visitor’s Center on fire mitigation around the home. The talk focused on “Ready, Set, Go!” and “Firewise” initiatives, specifically on how to protect your home, family, and community from wildfire.

Kamehameha Day Celebration 2012

The event commemorated our island's First King, Kamehameha the Great. Annually, the community pays tribute to him by adorning his statue with lei and a parade in his honor. We had a booth and serviced a couple hundred individuals with "Ready, Set, Go!" and "Firewise" materials. In all, the event attracted over 1,000 people and had amazing live entertainment and hula exhibitions!

Volcano Community Meeting: Fuels Reduction

HWMO attended a meeting organized by community members in Volcano to plan and organize community-wide participation in fuels reduction via a series of ‘chipper days’ in Volcano.

Community Presentation with Councilman Dominic Yagong

Residents of Honokaa, Paauhau, Paauillo, Kalopa, Hilo, and Waimea attended this event held at the Honokaa People's Theatre. The event, which HWMO gave a brief speech for along with handing out Firewise and Ready, Set, Go! materials, opened the door for obtaining possible funding for 2012-2014. The primary focus of the presentation to the legislature was to take action on creating mandatory fuelbreaks using native plants.