Honolulu’s “First” Ocean Safety Chief Has Big Plans

Honolulu Ocean Safety Chief Kurt Lager, who joined the department in 2005 with scuba, cliff, and swift-water rescue certifications has been the interim Ocean Safety Chief for nearly two years, was sworn into a five-year term this past December.

The city’s Ocean Safety department is nothing new, to be clear, but it is now officially its own standalone department with its own dedicated resources. And among Lager’s big challenges is to decide how to allocate those (finite) lifesaving resources.