Site work recently began for the installation of a temporary elementary school in Lahaina, Maui, to replace one lost in the Aug. 8, 2023, Hawaiʻi Wildfires.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers received a mission assignment from FEMA on Sept. 30, 2023, to design the facility and oversee construction. The Notice to Proceed for contractor Pono Aina Management, LLC, of Waianae, Hawaiʻi, was issued Nov. 20, 2023, and shortly thereafter the trailers and heavy equipment began arriving on site.
A USACE Enterprise Emergency Response Team was at the site Nov. 25 installing the necessary information technology hook ups and equipment to make on-site work trailers fully functional for personnel.
“Today we’re moving the Starlink Wi-Fi router from the back room of the trailer to a more central location for better connectivity in the trailer,” said Ryan Meersman who is the records manager for the Hawaiʻi Wildfires mission. “We’re also setting up the printers and the phones.”
USACE personnel will be on-site in the trailer managing the work that includes design of site, construction (grading, utility installation, etc.), and initial six month leasing of modular units with options to extend for up to five years at an additional cost.
The EERT is a function of the USACE CIO/G6 branch that provides information technology solutions to help the agency accomplish its primary mission, such as the Hawaiʻi Wildfires federal, state, and local recovery and response.