Ventura

First-year Maui County Fire Chief Bradford Ventura excelled in his evaluation by the Fire and Public Safety Commission on Thursday, with the panel giving him the highest marks in each of six performance categories.

This is his first evaluation as chief since he was selected by the commission last fall to lead the department.

“From the commission meeting we had today, it is evident that each commissioner is pleased with the job that Chief Ventura has performed in his first year,” said Commission Chairman Kyle Ginoza after the meeting. “He is very transparent, listens, executes, empowers his staff and continually seeks input on how to improve. It is refreshing that he is a modest, team-oriented individual and recognizes the value of his people toward a common mission to protect the community.”

Those voting in favor of sending the favorable evaluation to the mayor and the Maui County Council were Ginoza, Vice Chairperson Lisa Vares, Makalapua Kanuha, Punahele Alcon, Max Kincaid Jr., Dwight Burns and Dale Parsons. New member Gerald Matsui could not vote, as he had not gone through orientation with corporation counsel and Thursday’s meeting was his first, Ginoza said. One member was absent and excused.

Ventura began his fire career in 2002 with an engine company at the Kahului Fire Station. He then earned promotions to firefighter II in 2007, firefighter III in 2011 and captain in 2015. Beginning in August 2018, he served as deputy chief and also served as acting fire chief after Fire Chief David Thyne retired in July 2021.

“I am very grateful for the support and direction that the Fire and Public Safety Commission has given me this year,” Ventura said after the meeting. “The success that the department has had is a tribute to all the amazing members within our department. Our community deserves to have the best firefighters and Ocean Safety officers to protect them year-round.”

Commissioners could choose from four descriptions on how they felt Ventura performed in each category — substandard, needs improvement, satisfactory and exceeds.

He received “exceeds” marks in all six categories, which were reliability and achieving goals; relationship with others; job knowledge; problem-solving and decision-making; planning, organizing and setting priorities; and leadership. The scoring earned him an overall “exceeds” evaluation.

“His presentation on his goals and his restructuring of the Fire Department has proved itself a big plus for him, as not only did he win all of us over, his choices as far as his support staff you see here, but in the long run even the training of the men under his command, showing more professionalism in their duties and how they pull it off reflects a lot on his leadership and his personality,” Kincaid said of Ventura’s leadership.

In another category, Kanuha said: “He’s been very transparent and a leader for his team He does collaborate with our local community. This past fire, just incredible in our community (West Maui), I’m just hearing a lot of the great things the department has done. So I, too, my comment is just to say that his work is just outstanding.”

If the commission had to find something Ventura could work on, maybe it was “caring too much,” Vares said.

“I never been able to judge if something I’m talking to Brad Ventura about is a high priority or not because they all seem to be like the top priority,” she said.

However, she hopes that the work isn’t “spreading an excellent administrator too thin.”

But Deputy Chief Gavin Fujioka said he as well as fellow administrators are behind Ventura 100 percent and will help.

“We are right by his side, we won’t spread him out too thin. We will definitely pick up the slack if he starts to get a little thin,” Fujioka told commissioners.

“We are 100 percent behind Brad ’cause we love working back here. His leadership, his vision is awesome. It’s easy to come to work,” Fujioka added.

Prior to the evaluation, Ventura was asked to give a summary of the past year and accomplishments. He said the accomplishments “are owned by our whole department.”

“I’m very fortunate I have passionate people working all over me. Every rank of the department, they all want to serve this community,” he added.

Ventura said there was a focus on individuals and building self-esteem, and “building people up,” saying that things such as policy, procedure and equipment will work themselves out.

They also worked on fostering relationships with agencies such as the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Forestry and Wildlife, Maui Police Department, county Public Works Department and the Maui Emergency Management Agency.

“For this Lahaina fire, it’s relationships we built before the incident that makes us successful when (it) actually finally hits and we can work together,” he said, referring to the 2,100-acre brush fire in West Maui, which as of Thursday was 90 percent contained since it broke out Nov. 8.

Other things implemented under Ventura’s administration include a quarterly captains meeting, with Ventura saying the captains are a link between the administration and the boots on the ground, and vice-versa, and it is important to keep them informed.

Ventura said they have also increased staffing in the Ocean Safety Division by 38 percent. The department continuously graduates Ocean Safety recruits and also has an upcoming firefighter graduation.

Since COVID restrictions have lifted, they have also been doing more external training for their firefighters and have also expanded the department’s social media presence.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.