Firefighters receive home-security donation

HILO — Hawaii County firefighters train by crawling in full uniform — bright yellow hats, heavy coats and pants with big boots — on the most humid summer days.

They’re the first responders who seek to rescue residents from burning homes.

Often, they’re the first to arrive when someone is having a heart attack or has suffered a traumatic injury.

But who, fire officials wondered, protects the protectors?

Battalion Chief Robert Perreira had been using a security system that gives him remote access to home surveillance from a company called Canary.

Perreira approached State Farm insurance, which donated Kaimi, Perreira’s partner and the only arson-detection dog in the state, to see if the Hawaii Fire Department might qualify for a security system donation.

On Monday, State Farm partnered with Canary to donate $100,000 worth of home-security systems — 500 of them — to Hawaii Island firefighters in a program called Protect the Protectors.

With the devices, firefighters can now remotely view their homes through a cellphone app, set off a 90-decibel siren in the home if there’s an intruder, get an alert if a temperature change indicates a fire, or learn if there’s a gas leak and alert sleeping family members from afar.

“This is beyond my imagination,” Mayor Harry Kim told the firefighters. He said he wishes he had the money to put such a high-tech security system in every Big Island home and business.

Hawaii Fire Department Chief Darren Rosario said in an interview, “We’ve had some firefighters that have lost property to fires, flooding. We’ve had some firefighters that have lost property due to break-ins.”

He told firefighters in attendance that the security system “will let you see into your home while you’re at work.” The system, he said, is intended “to make sure that our homes are protected, as well as our families.”

Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.