A new facility to consolidate the dispatch centers for the Hawaii Police Department and Hawaii Fire Department is now expected to be finished late next year.
Construction of the new call center, located next to the Mohouli Heights Senior Neighborhood in Hilo, began in October 2021, when it was expected to be completed by early 2023. Now, following some delays, that completion date has been pushed back to September 2023.
A Department of Public Works spokeswoman said the date has been postponed because of “supply shortages and shipping delays,” a common complaint for construction projects recently following worldwide supply chain issues.
Despite those delays, DPW has reported that all masonry walls have been completed, as well as 80% of the site’s underground utilities. A communication tower for the site also is almost completed.
Hawaii Fire Chief Kazuo Todd said the new facility will improve the efficiency of both the fire department’s and police department’s emergency dispatch systems.
Currently, the police department provides primary dispatch services, Todd said, and routes emergency calls to the fire department or EMS as needed. The new center would put both fire and police dispatchers in the same centralized location, allowing for both better collaboration and lower operating costs.
The new site also moves the dispatch operations further away from the edge of Hilo’s tsunami evacuation zone.
“We’ve always figured, water isn’t just going to stop moving at a line,” Todd said. “And in a tsunami, we’re going to need a lot of dispatchers working around the clock … so we want it to be somewhere we can get to in an emergency.”
When the center is completed, the current dispatch centers will still be used as backup facilities.
Todd said the center has been in the works for nearly 20 years.
The project costs $25 million from the county’s capital improvements budget.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.