 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines. We are broadcasting live from the beautiful Think Tech Hawaii TV studio in the Pioneer Plaza in downtown Honolulu. This show is based on my book, also titled Beyond the Lines, and it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness. Today's special guest is our Hawaii Department of Transportation, Airport Fire Chief Glenn Mitchell. And today, we are going beyond the emergency. Chief Glenn, awesome having you here. Thank you for having me, it is my pleasure and honor to be here. Oh, great having you. Now I want to know Chief Glenn, were you born in Hawaii? Yes, I was born and raised in Kuhala. Most people don't know where Kuhala is, it's a plantation community, live there, most of my younger life, I went to school, graduated, had my first job at the Manakea Beach Hotel, at 18, I moved here to Honolulu and became a fireman. Nice. Now Chief Glenn, I want to ask you about your dad. I know that talking with you earlier, you said that he's had such a huge impact on your life. Tell me about your dad. Well, everything I have learned, everything I have become was because of him. We always had everything that we needed, always had clean clothes, food, I played a lot of sports in high school, if it was volleyball season, I had a new pair of volleyball shoes, basketball season, basketball shoes, baseball season, baseball shoes, and it continued. But what he has given me is lessons in life. He always told me to create a story, create your own story, and just by his example, that's what I've done. Nice. Now Chief Glenn, when and why did you become a paramedic? There was a show way back when that I loved as a station, 54, emergency, and it was a paramedic unit that was based in a fire station. I always wanted to be a medic. We never had one in Kohala. And I was given the opportunity to be hired by the hospital, to be trained, it was like a dream. And I'm glad I took advantage. And you were how old? I was 18, right out of high school. It was my way of going to college, and it is something people always tell me, why didn't you finish? I said, well, I think my choice to work for the state and go to EMT school was probably the best decision I made in my work career. Do you remember the first emergency you responded to as a paramedic? After we were trained, there was an incident up at Boko Lua, which is at the base of Manakea where some young people was trying to break into the armory and steal some ammo. They had actually shot one of the guards, and that was my first call up up the hill. What they thought was small ammo was large ammo, so really there was nothing they could have used it, but we still had to respond to the injured guard. So okay, now Chief Glenn, how old were you, and why did you become a firefighter? Working for the state, I worked at the hospital. We did the emergency room and responded on all of the medical calls. I took a test, and I was offered the job as a firefighter. I had just returned. I was still in my initial year. I sat down with the hospital manager, and I told him my dilemma, and she looked at me and she said, no, the best opportunity for you is not here at the hospital. You can use what you have learned. Yes, we have lost the resource, but the best opportunity for you is to move to Honolulu and become a firefighter. How old were you? I started with the fire service a week before my 19th birthday. Oh geez. Yeah. Okay, now Chief Glenn, now you're the fire chief of the HDLT airport at Daniel K. Noi. The new air bus, that huge new air bus, tell me about that and the significance of planes like that with what you do. Well, you know, when you look at it, one, it brings in a lot more passengers, 550 when it's full. Geez, huge. More importantly, it brings in risks. When it's full, you have about 86,000 gallons of fuel. Any incident that occurs, why now, aviation has changed. The state has blessed ARF with equipment now that can respond to an air bus incident. These days, we have two on the ground at the same time. On a busy day, we have three. Soon, three will come in occurrence. When you look at it, instead of flying two planes to bring 500 people, they can do it with one. That has now changed not only the way we do business in ARF, but also how the airport functions. Chief Glenn, we all know about what the Honglu Fire Department does. What are the differences with aircraft firefighting? Well, a lot of it is we respond to aircraft incidents. In most cases, it shouldn't occur. With safety and aviation, it doesn't occur often. Differences is we don't have a second chance. We have one chance to make a difference. I have 90 seconds to ensure that the men and women can put out 90% of the fire with the agent and water that we have. Time. Yeah. You know, my men and women have to be there on the side of the aircraft within a three minute period. And a lot of it is based on the structure of the aircraft, how well it protects the passengers' insight. A lot of times, we're at a disadvantage. 550 people come in on a full staff. We might have 17 people at the airport itself. So having HFT, having the fitfire as our mutual aid responders in these emergencies is critical and why a big part of our work is also giving back and helping them out also. Chief Glenn, let's talk about the importance of training. I mean, obviously, you guys have to be so proactive in your preparation. Can you tell me more about how important your training is? Well, you know, it's like being on a football team. We train every day, men and women get hurt, they suffer from stresses, and maybe not knowing you'll ever be in a game. We have people who retire with 30 years of service that have never been to a serious aircraft incident. Some of our airports have no calls. So the difficult part is training, but also keeping people motivated. How do you keep a person motivated year after year, not knowing if an incident will occur? And that's where a lot of the men and women at HFT, every time they have a run, they practice. Minds is simple. It's either practice or the Super Bowl. There is nothing in between. I like that analogy. I mean, you're right. It's actually just all practice or the big Super Bowl. That's right. Now, Chief Glenn, what's one of the most recent emergencies that you guys responded to? We had a Hawaiian airline that was coming in. They had smoke in the cabin. For many, we might have two or three, maybe four a month. But information also was shared later that there was a fire in the cargo. The aircraft landed safely. The pilot upon the aircraft stopping blew all of the eight shoots that was on and 235 people were evacuated in 38 seconds. So the analogy of training and how successful it can be was shared. As I spoke about the event in my commentaries, here is where a trained staff on the inside and a trained staff on the outside created success. That's amazing how you guys responded so quickly. But yeah, I mean, it comes down to your training. Chief Glenn, what's the worst emergency you've ever experienced? You know, I was young in my career of actually driving the chief that day. Aircraft came in. The call was a number three engine shut down. As we watched the aircraft land, it looked normal, landed, taxied, and stopped. As the trucks came up to the aircraft, driving the command, I was told to look at the number three engine. On the right side of the aircraft, the whole side was gone. Because of a pressure problem, the right side of the aircraft was torn off. First class, nine seats in first class was blown out and passengers and seats went into the number three engine, which was the cause of the engine shut down. I think for me, you get training, but in an instant like that, there's nothing you can do. We make sure that the engine was secured, but just the impact of seeing that. That I would say would have been the worst in my 40 years. What airline was that? United. Wow. Man. We've got to take a moment there. Chief Glenn, you received the Patriot Award a few years ago. What is the Patriot Award? Patriot Award is given to fire departments who support our Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine, Marine Reservists. We at HDOT airport have a lot of our people who serve as part of the contract that we have with the reservists. Any time they need to go, we will make accommodations. Any accommodations that we have to do, because the service of the country comes first. I think it's one that Chief Martinez Jacobs, myself, and all of the chiefs who are there were proud to receive it because it was their way of telling us, thank you. We have to do it, but we want to make sure that it's done where it's never questioned. Chief Jacobs is also a veteran, and many of my chiefs as well as my members have served. Because the ARF discipline is unique, that's where they got their background. I personally have never served, but it's one that we support and will continue to support. Chief Glenn, we're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we're going to continue going beyond the emergency. Thank you. You're watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii with my special guest, Fire Chief Glenn Mitchell. We will be back in 60 seconds. Aloha, my name is Duretian. You are watching Think Tech Hawaii. I will be hosting a show here every other Wednesday at 1 p.m., and we will be talking to a lot of experts and guests around sustainability, social justice, the future here in Hawaii, progressive politics, and a whole lot more. So please tune in, and thank you for watching Think Tech Hawaii. Hey, hello, everyone, and welcome to the Think Tech Hawaii studio. My name is Andrew Lanning. I'm the host of Pretty Matters Hawaii. We air here every Tuesday at 10 a.m. Hawaii time trying to bring you issues about security that you may not know, issues that can protect your family, protect yourself, protect our community, protect our companies, the folks we work with. Please join us, and I hope you can maybe get a little different perspective on how to live a little safer. Aloha. Welcome back to Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. My special guest today is our Hawaii Department of Transportation Airport Fire Chief, Glenn Mitchell, and today we are going beyond the emergency. Chief Glenn, in my book Beyond the Lines, I talk a lot about mindset and having the right perspective and looking forward to challenges, and you have to do that same thing with your teams. Tell me more about that. Well, you know, a lot of it is ensuring that they're well-trained. You know, someone told me, and it's something that I remembered, the key to be a leader is four things, making sure that your men and women have the tools, the time, and the training to be successful. But unless you inspect what you expect, it will never occur. So you know, it's one that has served me well, and our platform of leadership, especially mine is to serve. You know, as my dad said, everyone is a leader. You know, it's not a position, it's not a rank. Leadership is a decision and choice, you know, looking to the person to the left or the right of view. If you choose or you make the decision to help, you are becoming a leader. Chief Glenn, why are you a great, effective leader? I think a lot of it is recognition and appreciation of the people I serve. You know, every meeting is started with thank you. You know, it's the way us island boys were, and people say, you know, you're not from here. You are from the big island because Aloha, recognition, appreciation is part of what we do every day, making sure that people feel content. You know, we've lost 30 plus members because they felt that at the airport, they could not find the content that they wanted. And it was okay because as long I have not disrespected them and they are better today than when they started, I'm good. Yeah. Chief Glenn, another big part of my book. I talk about obviously teamwork and building teams. What are your thoughts about some of the main keys in terms of building great teams? Well, you know, and it's one that we've done it not only for the fire service, but many of the five diamond hotels that I've opened. And it's this simple, you know, when the world is in need of help, they'll always come back to Hawaii. Yeah. I was told that we have the key. You know, I opened up my first four seasons and this is basically the format. I've met you. I've spoken to you for about an hour. Yeah. We are four cards and a pencil. Yeah. Which card best represents you? I like blue. Okay. So, you didn't pick red, you didn't pick yellow. I knew you'd pick. Oh, man. So the key to success in leadership is if you know what a person wants, before they ask, you can always win. When opening up a five diamond hotel, if you know what the guest wants before they ask, you can always win. So, you know, it was something that dad shared anticipating the needs of the family, but it creates now that platform for teamwork. Because if everybody's doing the same, they can have fun. When your team can come to work and play, and that is something that I stress. They are safer, they're more efficient, and you are more successful. Chief Glenn, I didn't know you could do magic. That was really cool. Well, you know, it's one that, it's about people. I think as a leader, as a parent, if you know your child, you know their strengths, their weaknesses, you can always put them in a place that they can be successful. Making sure that the right person is sitting in the right seat. I like that. I have a bus that has 72 seats. For me to be successful, the right person has to be sitting in the right seat. Yeah. Now, my good friend, Alice E. Noy, I mean, she helped so many people and she did a training for your fire department. Tell me about that. You know, she has a program called Mastering Your Superpowers. And who better to be a superhero than fireman? So we had a meeting with Allison and it was at Ballroom where we had all the chiefs from the state, 54 chiefs, and she shared the program and it was amazing because her assessment is based on the five Chinese elements, based on people. If I know who you are, now I know how I can communicate with you, but better yet I can understand your strengths and weaknesses. I loved it because it was based on fun. Everybody wants to know about themselves. And if you can have fun enough to tease yourself, it's a great tool. So we do it with numerology. Give me your name, your birth date, and the time you was born. It tells me a footprint. So now I can, it's not an excuse, and you know, people say when you have training documents like that, now it's an excuse, no. It's a way for you to complement and more importantly, collaborate with the person for success. Yeah. I fully agree. And Alice, she just has such great positive energy, but I'm glad you guys got to work with her. Dylan, I want to ask you about what was, what's the toughest decision you ever had to make in your life? You know, the toughest decision I had to make was taking the chief job. Before I became chief, I had a training company that I traveled a lot and at times I was away in Asia once a week for at least a 10-year period. Opening up hotels. Yeah. Training staff. When the opportunity to become a chief came, it was hard because you know, I enjoyed training, I enjoyed the travel, but it was time for me to do something that I could leave back as a legacy. It was funny, I sat with my daughter and I asked her, I said, Lilly, what should I do? And then she thought about it. She said, well, which one will give you the truck? Okay, because if I become chief, but I'll be home every day, dad, you got to get the truck. And you know, granted, the decision was made, but it was nice that I did get the support of the family. But that was a tough decision because over the 30 years that I did training, we've made a lot of nice relationships, you know, traveled from Asia to Europe, learned about culture, picked up tools and stories for my leadership box. But I think it was, that was a difficult one. I'm glad you got the truck. Now chief, what's something about your team that drives you nuts? Is there like a challenge that you have among your team? Well, you know, it's the complacency at times because you train every day. A year worth of training is documented, recorded, and now it's repeated. How many times can you shoot water in an aircraft in practice? How many times can you don on your S-CBA? S-C is one that is my biggest nerve because I remember that aircraft, when I made the corner, I saw the side of the aircraft gone. I wasn't prepared. And you know, hopefully the men and women that I serve will never come there. So making sure that even on an exercise, they have their full PPEs, even on a standby, having their full PPEs because, correct, if it does occur, you won't have time to turn on your gear on, you won't have time to do the checks to make sure that you're safe. Have you had any team members that never had any emergencies to respond to? Many. We had people retire with 30-plus years of service that never went to crash emergency. They went on standby. One of our airports, as I shared with you, never had a run all last year. So the complacency aspect is a concern because, like I said, every time HFD or FFD responds, their team is practicing. We have about 1,000 calls a year at Danukie International. Most of it is medical. Our guys and gals are great medical responders. But I don't have a comfort zone about the aircraft crash. So practice to be perfect, and on a bad day, we're still good. That is the whole mantra as we train. You practice to be perfect. Even though you're not perfect, on a bad day, you're still good. Chief Glenn, you also responded to that skydiving crash at Dillingham Airfield. Right. Tell me what happened there. Well, aircraft took off. The investigation is not complete. Took off, had a malfunction, 11 people perished in the crash. HFD responded within minutes. By the time they got there, most of the fire era was safe. I think the biggest concern that came out of that is now we are the airport. How are we going to be more proactive? And I think since the crash itself, we have taken steps to serve not only the airport community, but also the community outside of the airport. My units are the only ones that have foam that can handle aircraft fire. Like I said, the fire that you saw, the large fire that there was training on, there was only 1,500 gallons of fuel. Just imagine it was the Airbus that carries 86,000 gallons of fuel. So it's one that we want to make sure that as we look at Dillingham, instead, we always get better. We being there at the time of the crash probably would not have made a difference. But at least now it has brought attention to how well we serve not only the people who fly into the airport, but the people of the island of Oahu. For sure. Chief Glenn, I want to ask you one more question. Out of all of your experience now, looking at the big picture, what's most important in life? I think it's always, you know, it comes down to family. You know, we provide opportunities for my men and women to take care of their family. And at the end of the day, it's the reason I'm here. You know, my greatest fear is the day I say goodbye to my mom and dad. You know, they have been an influence, but more importantly, they have given me lessons and stories. I call my mom every day on my drive home. I head to the airport. There's always about 45 minutes of traffic. And conversations is always the same. What are you making dad for dinner? When I was at the station, the last five years I cooked every day. And as I went food shopping, that was my 15 minutes where I spoke to mom and dad on what are we going to cook for the men and women at the station. So, you know, all we do is based on family. And I think one of the biggest successes that I have as a leader, hopefully the legacy that I'll leave behind is Chief Mitchell always made sure that the family came first. Chief Glenn, amen to that. Thank you. You know, most people, when there's an emergency, they're running away from the emergency. You guys are running to the emergency. Thank you for your courage, you and your team. Thank you. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com. And my book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I hope that Chief Glenn and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.