The city's new fire chief, a 24-year veteran of the Honolulu Fire Department who rose through the ranks, favors banning consumer fireworks and adding sprinklers to residential high-rise buildings.

"I'd like to see a ban on consumer fireworks," said Kenneth Silva, who was chosen from a list of five finalists late Monday by the Honolulu Fire Commission. "I think we should leave fireworks to the professionals."

Silva also belonged to a city task force that met this year to identify incentives that would make retrofitting old high-rise buildings with sprinkler systems more palatable to homeowners. He estimates there are 300 residential high-rise buildings without the systems, which would cost homeowners thousands of dollars to install.

"It's a tough sell, but it is something we are not going to give up on," he said yesterday after his appointment was announced.

Silva, who currently serves as the department's assistant fire chief in charge of support services, replaces Chief Attilio Leonardi, who will retire Jan. 15. Leonardi has been chief since April 1998.

The new chief will earn $114,624.

Silva is 45. He joined the department in 1981 and has been a firefighter, a captain and a battalion chief before becoming assistant chief in 2002. He was the department's manager of the year in 2001.

He will oversee a department that is vastly different than the one he joined.

In the past few years, the type of calls that dominate the daily workload has shifted from 60 percent fire and 40 percent medical to 70 percent medical and 30 percent fire, Silva said.

The department's 1,090 uniformed firefighters now train for more than fires and must be ready to deal with weapons of mass destruction, biological threats and natural disasters, he said.

"Our scope is different," he said. "We're an all-hazard fire department."

The department operates 43 fire stations and a fireboat with a $75 million operating budget, he said.

News of Silva's appointment was met with support by the Hawai'i Fire Fighters Association's O'ahu division.

Guy Fujio, O'ahu division chairman, said the union has worked with Silva on a number of labor and management issues. He said Silva understands the the management/labor relationship and seems willing to communicate openly with the union.

Fujio said he looks forward to working with Silva when the union opens talks with the city on a new collective bargaining agreement in January.

"I think (his selection) is a good thing," said Fujio, who works out of the Kalihi Kai substation.

"The chief understands our role and what he needs to do to keep us involved in all the changes in the work environment. Anytime there is a change, there needs to be a consultation or a meaningful discussion about how labor gets involved in the process. From the labor side, that's important. We don't need to be fighting."

Mayor Mufi Hannemann said the selection process wasn't easy.

"They had a very difficult job of finding a replacement for someone who has served us very, very well all these years, someone who — by his own admission — is the best-looking fire chief we ever had," Hannemann said at a news conference, giving a nod to Leonardi.

Leonardi will leave the department after 35 years of service. He is 59. He plans to take a few months off "to decompress" before deciding what to do next.

He said Silva will have to "develop a vision of his own."

"It's a challenging time," Leonardi said. "It's not a walk-in-the-park kind of job."

City officials also had high praise for Silva.

City Councilman Gary Okino, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, lauded Silva's work on preparing information on retrofitting condominiums with fire sprinklers. He said Silva diligently prepared the information for the council and presented it authoritatively.

"He's very knowledgeable and very intelligent," said Okino. "We've dealt with him and he seems like a good choice."

Dr. Elizabeth Char, director of the city's emergency services, described her working relationship with Silva as stellar and said his appointment will further the spirit of teamwork shared by emergency medical workers and HFD.

"We're very excited about it," she said yesterday. "It's a good thing. He's a wonderful person, very bright, and we've had a very cooperative relationship with him. He's a good man."

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.