Story by Petty Officer 2nd Class Tristan Labuguen March 6, 2026 at 04:49PM In the last three years, federal firefighters on Oahu responded to 1,567 requests for fire and emergency services support from the City and County of Honolulu, according to Jason Lopez, Commander, Navy Region Hawaii (CNRH) Federal Fire Department (FFD) Assistant Chief for Emergency Medical Services. That averages out to 522 calls for federal emergency assistance each year. “If the Federal Fire Department has the available assets and resources and the request for assistance comes in from the City and County of Honolulu, we will go and assist,” explained Lopez. “The reciprocal is also true, where the City and County of Honolulu will provide assets for the Federal Fire Department’s mutual aid requests for emergencies when our organic assets are unavailable.” The mutual aid agreements between FFD and city and state agencies – including the Honolulu Fire Department, Honolulu Emergency Services Department, and Hawaii Airports Division – reflect a long-standing tradition of cooperation between military and civilian emergency responders dating back to World War II. Military and civilian fire protection and emergency services in Hawaii have routinely supported one another during natural disasters, aircraft accidents, and large-scale training or operational events.
