Hawaii Wildfires Recovery Field Office Commander Col. Eric Swenson recently announced a contract award to DAWSON Solutions, LLC, from Honolulu, to construct the infrastructure needed to install 169 temporary homes in Lahaina.
Kilohana, which means “lookout point,” has been chosen as a temporary housing site being developed for August 8, Hawaii wildfires survivors by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The team is preparing the 18-acre tract of land on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support the impacted community that lost 2,000 properties when fires swept through West Maui.
“We are committed to doing everything we can to support the community,” said Swenson. “We realize this will not solve all the housing concerns within Lahaina, but we are hopeful it is a start toward a better tomorrow.”
The site for the modular units is part of federal and state efforts to provide longer term, temporary housing to those displaced by the wildfires. The Kilohana project will primarily be for individuals or single households with units ranging in size from one to three bedrooms.
For USACE, assisting FEMA with temporary housing is normal. However, no two disasters are ever the same. In Lahaina, USACE and its contractors, working alongside FEMA, will prepare pads and provide plans, specifications and construction management activities associated with the emergency housing mission.
According to USACE Temporary Housing Planning and Response Team, Mission Manager Tony Feilzer, from the St. Paul District, USACE will prepare the pads with utilities so FEMA can procure and install the units.
“We're installing the backbone infrastructure, the water, sewer, electrical and roads. Then FEMA contractors will install the housing units, connecting to the sanitary sewer, interconnected water and electrical.”
On October 28, 2023, after receiving a $1.9 million FEMA mission assignment, USACE activated a 10-person team comprised of engineers, surveyors and mission specialists to research, select locations and provide conceptual designs for proposed sites. USACE recently received an additional $95 million to contract the site preparations from FEMA.
The Kilohana project is anticipated to take approximately six months to complete due to the size of the project and the need to get through hard rock to install the infrastructure. As with the debris mission, there will be a partnership with local cultural monitors to ensure the integrity of the area’s history and culture.
“I think that for this whole mission, not just the housing mission but the debris removal mission, the critical public facilities mission, we're far more conscious of the Hawaiian culture and with the cultural training we’ve received, it’s prepared us to work with the community and the environment,” said Feilzer. “I think that's a good thing, and I'm glad to see it.”
Social Sharing