Airport awarded safety grant

Advertiser Staff

The state has been awarded $6.25 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation for safety-improvement projects at Honolulu International Airport, which include the construction of a training facility and new vehicles for aircraft rescue and firefighting personnel.

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, said $1.2 million will be used to construct the first phase of the training facility, while $1.8 million is earmarked for the purchase of three vehicles, and $3.2 million for the installation of airfield guidance signs.

"Our firefighters and other airport safety personnel have done an outstanding job," Abercrombie said. "They are the seldom seen but all-important backstop who provide safety .... These grants will give them the tools to maintain the excellent record they've compiled over the years."

The first phase of the Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting training facility will include a 152-foot-diameter burn pit, above-ground fuel tank and water storage tank, said state Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Ishikawa. The facility will be built upon the existing burn pit site next to Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting Station No. 2 near the reef runaway.

The three new firefighting vehicles will replace aging vehicles and allow the state to remain in compliance with standards.

In addition to replacing and improving the airfield lighting and lighted signage system at Honolulu Airport, the state will use grant money to update airport markings and striping on runways, taxiways and aprons to meet current Federal Aviation Administration standards, said Ishikawa.