Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1515068
Spring 2024 – LOCAL695.COM 39 The members of Hawaii Local 665 are not first responders by trade. They aren't trained to take charge in a disaster zone. But that's exactly what they did when the need arose. When the fires broke out, Local 665 President and IATSE International Trustee Tuia'ana Scanlan ended his vacation in order to come home and help his community. Communications infrastructure was devastated by the fires. At first, it was difficult to assess whether his members on the island were safe or not. So, in what can only be described as a true showing of solidarity, members throughout Hawaii stepped up to do what they could to help. Several members located on Oahu, Victor Loranzo; Kahi Logan; and Kaipu Seales, all used personal boats to shuttle emergency supplies to Maui. Member Dave Dahlberg owns a tree-removal business and, with the assistance of Member Dave Reyes, went in and began clearing the land of dead trees in order to prevent the fire from spreading further and to free those who had been trapped in their homes by trees that had been knocked down by high winds. In the aftermath of the blaze, the Aloha Event Lighting Company, owned by 665 rigger Mike Carreno, supplied emergency lighting and power distribution to support evacuee refuge centers. These efforts were assisted by Member Joseph Arias, who served as the boots on the ground coordinator for 665's Maui effort. Local 665 Business Agent Irish helped coordinate donations from the wardrobe department from Magnum P.I. to clothe those who had been displaced by the fires while Tui worked with Maui City Councilmembers Keani Rawlins-Fernandez and Yuki-Lei Sugimura to coordinate with the Lahaina Ice Company to provide fresh water for people. In short, IATSE Local 665 moved mountains to be of service when disaster struck. In the immediate aftermath of the fires, the top priorities were food, power, and communications equipment. Federal aid provided through FEMA and donations from across the country soon helped address the first two, but with so much physical infrastructure destroyed, establishing clear lines of communication was a greater challenge. This is where Local 695 came into play. On Saturday, August 12, I received a call from Local 695 President Jillian Arnold. "Tui needs help," she told me. I had met Tui and several of his members the month before at the union's District 2 Conference in Hawaii. As president of the hosting Local, Tui had kindly welcomed guests from California, Nevada, and Arizona for the event. He, Jillian, and I had bonded over our shared alma mater of Chapman University and the man had quickly earned my respect as both a leader in his community and as a kind, artistic person. Over the next several hours, Jillian, Local 695 Treasurer Phil Palmer, and I began sourcing emergency comms devices that would work in a disaster zone. Ultimately, we settled on a series of ICOM Iridium satellite radios commonly used by disaster responders and had them shipped directly to Tui's home address on Hawaii. "Those radios came in huge," Tui told me when I spoke to him a few weeks later. "They cut down on the amount of time it Local 665 President & IATSE Trustee Tuia'ana Scanlan