I’d love to live on an island. And when I recently spoke to the Honolulu Fire Department about its varied rescue operations, it just reinforced what I already knew: Living and working on an island is just plain cool.

The island environment means each rescue is different. In fact, firefighters may retrieve victims using high-angle rescues in an urban area on one shift, and fly helicopters, jet-ski in high surf or repel into mountain canyons to find the lost during the next, said Chief Ken Silva.

The all-hazard department serves the entire island of Oahu, about 600 square miles. That includes responding to incidents in the Pacific Ocean or along the island’s 227 miles of shoreline. At the same time, the department served both urban and rural, mountainous areas that house a population of about 900,000. “Honolulu has several high rises in the urban core, including transit populations staying in hotels,” he said. “The island also has wildland areas and our summer months are exceptionally busy for us in battling fire in the wildland-urban interface.”

The department also responds to incidents on the island’s military bases. Silva said the department has mutual-aid agreements with the Federal Fire Department that protects military bases, such as the Pearl Harbor Naval Station, and works alongside the Hickam Air Force Base and state of Hawaii’s Air Rescue Fire departments. HFD’s two, five-person technical search-and-rescue teams also respond to any mountain, ocean or other rescues on the military bases since Federal Fire and ARF do not have a rescue companies.

As a result, the department’s 1,200 firefighters must be able to handle myriad types of fire calls and search-and-rescue operations, Silva said. They also must meet several qualifications that mainland firefighters may not. First, firefighters must be what Silva dubbed “excellent waterman.” He said that many of the department’s firefighters were born on Oahu or other Hawaiian islands, spending their youth surfing or kayaking, even SCUBA diving off the shores of Honolulu. Still, all firefighters must pass a swimming competency skill-set test and be trained on rescues in an ocean environment.

“Shoreline companies also are trained in watercraft operation,” Silva said.

Indeed, HFD firefighters must wear a lot of hats. That’s where training becomes essential, noted Bttn. Chief Jeff Farris, a 27-year fire service veteran and chief of special operations. Farris oversees the hazmat and fire-boat programs, as well as department’s aircraft section. He also plans training for the search-and-rescue squad, which includes high-angle rescues, working on the aircraft and the watercraft, SCUBA diving or using thermal imagers or the hydraulic extraction equipment.

Farris said firefighters also need basic firefighting training on apparatus and equipment. They also must be proficient in basic life support skills because a rescue squad has to package the patient, do initial triage and then bring the patient out to the ambulance, he said.

Training is especially important with special operation companies, including technical rescue. While Farris may advise HFD firefighters on how to attack an incident, he also spends time listening to his field personnel. In fact, he depends on his team’s local knowledge of the island to determine appropriate search-and-rescue strategies. Most firefighters are local, born and raised on the island. So it’s important to tap into that local knowledge, he said.

“Our firefighters are watermen, comfy on mountain trails and chiefs need to solicit their advice during training and at incidents,” Farris said.