Rod Ohira's People
Fire still burns in this 'smoke eater'
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
When Warren Ho joined the Honolulu Fire Department in February 1961, O'ahu had 23 fire stations. Back then, firefighters rode on red trucks and were called "smoke eaters" because their standard equipment did not include breathing apparatus.
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"You ate smoke and stayed in (smoking buildings) until you couldn't stand it anymore," Ho said. "The only way to breathe was to go near the nozzle of hoses where the water was coming out."
Battalion Chief Warren Ho learned long ago — when he was a second-year firefighter, "still wet behind the ears" — that no situation is too small when it comes to helping people. "It's what I tell my captains" now, he says.
The son of an assistant chief, who once commanded all HFD stations from Waikiki through Windward O'ahu, Ho was 24 years old when he and his Waimanalo childhood buddies, Fred "Snooky" Lau and Eugene Kamanu, became firefighters. His cousin, Norman Wilson, was already in the department.
Lau, Kamanu and Wilson are now retired but Ho, who celebrates his 65th birthday Friday, is still going strong. No active firefighter has been in the department longer. A battalion chief for 23 years, his command covers eight stations from Pawa'a to Hawai'i Kai.
Fire Chief Attilio Leonardi, three assistant chiefs — Alvin Tomita, Wayne Nojiri and Charles Wassman — and HFD spokesman Capt. Richard Soo are among those who have passed through Ho's watch over the years.
"I met Chief Leonardi when he first made captain," Ho recalled. "He got assigned to a station that wasn't the best. But he took the people who were there and made that station sing. They went to fires and did their work like it was supposed to be done. He never yelled and was a good listener. What I saw then was a leader who had the potential to be chief someday."
Ho plans to retire in December 2002 with 41 years and 11 months of service.
A solidly built man just under 6 feet tall and weighing 225 pounds, he works out in the gym every day for an hour.
"You work all your life to make retirement but you've got to be alive to enjoy it," Ho said. "I take care of my health and stay fit because I want to learn how to play the guitar and dance, travel and spend time with my wife (the former Verna Mae Carvalho) when I retire."
Ho was a second-year firefighter "still wet behind the ears" when his father, the late David Ho, assigned him to solo relief duty at the Sunset Beach station. His commitment was defined during that stint.
"You had to drive the truck, pump the water, do everything because you're by yourself," he said. "One thing that happened there has stayed with me all these years.
"It's 3 o'clock in the morning and I hear this knock on the door," Ho continued. "Three soldiers are outside and their car is stuck in the sand at Waimea Bay. One of them tells me they've been waiting for help since 11 o'clock. So I get out the truck, go down to Waimea Bay and pull their car out. It didn't represent a dangerous situation but it became the focus for my whole career.
"I realized I was the last guy they could turn to for help. They had tried everything else. What it taught me was that no situation is too small to help. It's what I tell my captains."
In his early years, Ho recalled the fire department's legends had nicknames like "Captain Blood," "Captain Tar Ball," "Horse," and "The Bear."
"These guys knew how to stick it to you," he said. "We had to do things one way, over and over.
"Whenever we came back from a run, the captains made us go underneath to wipe the bottom of the truck. They made us take apart the urinals to clean it and scrape old wax off the floors. It was all part of teaching us discipline."
Through his captains, Ho teaches the same thing but in a different way.
"I don't scold," he said, "but we have to make them understand why the job needs to be done. Young people nowadays are always asking why. We try to give them reasons but we had a saying in the old days that still applies: 'No excuses.' "
The anthrax scare has kept firefighters busy but Ho believes an important part of his job is making sure they remain alert. "They're being run ragged but I think it's important that our people treat everything seriously, stay focused and not take anything for granted," he said.
The July 1993 Woolworth fire in Waikiki that took 37 hours to extinguish was one of the toughest blazes Ho can recall.
Waiau Fire Capt. Eddie Amina, who is a month older than Ho, played a key role in putting out that fire, the battalion chief noted.
"We just couldn't get over a pile of debris (inside) to get water onto the fire," Ho recalled. "Eddie figured out a way. He tunneled under the rubbish and put water on the fire. We would have been there three or four days if he hadn't done that."
Ho was neither encouraged by his father to become a firefighter nor did he catch any breaks for being the son of an assistant chief. "My father was a hard guy," said Ho, an Iolani graduate. "He never told me but I know he was proud that I became a firefighter."
Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.
