Public & Human Services: Fire Chief
Public & Human Services
Fire Chief:
Debbi Eleneki
by Brian McInnis
Debbie Eleneki proved her doubters wrong 19 years ago when she became the first woman firefighter in the history of the Honolulu Fire Department. She's kept her trailblazing trend going up to last year too, by becoming the first female fire captain in the HFD.
Family Business
Capt. Eleneki, 38, isn't the only person in her family whose life revolves around battling fires and saving lives. Her father, Peter Akima, retired in 1976 as a fire captain and her four brothers, Byron, Aaron, Kevin and Peter are all firefighters. "(My father) did it to help support the family, back then. So, he started the tradition. He realized what kind of occupation it was, so he encouraged everybody to take the test."
"Even beyond my brothers, my sister married a firefighter. My husband has two sisters, one of them is married to a firefighter, and the other was married to TWO firefighters. I don't know what it is; it's a family thing, and not only our family. If you look across the board, a lot of these (firefighters) are all relatives."
An Unlikely Candidate
It was definitely Debbie's childhood dream to crack into the firefighting ranks. In fact, her rise from a laid-back lifestyle to trainee, standard firefighter, and finally captain, seems to surprise even her.
"The timing was (good) before I left for college. It just so happened (the examination) came out, so I took the test just for the hell of it. It's basically like a PSAT. It's just a practice to take more exams. And so that's what happened… My intention wasn't for me to become a firefighter."
Whether or not it was what she intended, Debbie did get called back for more testing after a year of college (age 19). That was in 1986.
"It was a real big adjustment for me, physically, to go from basically a couch potato—that's what I was." Eleneki says. "I had about three months to train before getting called back for the agility test." That rigorous part of the screening period is where all female applicants before Debbie had failed. These days, there are a total of six active women firefighters in the HFD, but Debbie was the first to pass the test.
"I was always a tomboy, I could throw a ball, and I'm kind of athletic in that way, but I never trained in any way."
So, Why Go Ahead With It?
The Kamehameha Schools graduate freely admits that the main reason she went ahead with filling out an application was because someone scoffed at the thought of her passing the rigorous tests required of a firefighter. Even Debbie's father didn't think she'd pursue it all the way.
"When I came back from Oregon State, my friend's father found out I had taken the exam — because someone he knew saw me down there — and he laughed at the idea. And that was actually my motivation. That's just my personality. Ask my dad." She laughs, and adopts a masculine voice: "You can't do that!" before reverting to her own: "Yeah I can."
Unique Perspective?
Since the vast majority of firefighters are male and accustomed to a male-only work environment, Debbie recalls the challenges of her early days, breaking in to the ranks at new stations, and having the men size her up.
"People think it's an adjustment for me to enter a male-dominant occupation. I've always worked with 100 percent men from the time I came in. The adjustment comes from the men, having to adjust to me," she says with a grin. "They've been around all these years and have never had to work with a female, and now I'M here." She arches her eyes and points to herself for emphasis. "It would take maybe a month's time — and they only work 10 days a month, in 24 hour shifts — to realize they don't have to be walking on (eggshells)."
Since she's worked at the Kailua, Waikiki, Manoa, Kalihi Kai, Waianae, Nanakuli, Kahaluu, Olomana and Makiki stations over her career, that meant a lot of adjustment time.
For the record, her coworkers at the Makiki Fire Station (Station 3) seemed perfectly at home and at ease.