WAIMEA — In times of crisis, rescue crews with the Hawaii Fire Department step up and give their all to save the lives of visitors and those who call this place home.
For more than two decades now, the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation has stood behind the island’s heroes as a crucial partner to the county and the fire department, making sure emergency responders have the tools, training and equipment they need to do the job.
This year alone, the foundation has donated ATVs and rescue boards as well as funds for the purchase of a PA system at Hapuna Beach.
And on Friday, that critical work continued with a donation of two “Jaws of Life” sets — each including a spreader, cutter and ram — to better equip the island’s rescue teams to save lives.
For Laura Mallery-Sayre, who started the foundation with her husband Frank Sayre, it’s about those on the front lines.
“People say all the time, ‘Thank you’ to us — Frank and I — but we’re not the foundation; the community is the foundation. You’re the foundation,” Mallery-Sayre told a group of firefighters on Friday at the Waimea Fire Station. “It’s people’s love for all of you, for what you do on a daily basis.”
Mallery-Sayre and Sayre started the foundation following the death of their son, Danny, who died in 1997 during a hiking trip to the back of Pololu Valley near Kapoloa Falls. The couple started the foundation in Danny’s memory dedicating its mission to cultivating community support to support rescue crews.
“I feel so grateful when Laura tells me that there’s going to be a gifting or they’re going to do something,” said Councilwoman Karen Eoff. “Because it just seems like it’s a part of our community that we need to recognize.”
The Jaws of Life equipment is also battery-powered, which cuts out the need to transport a gas motor, hydraulic pump and hoses to the scene of a rescue — cutting minutes off the response time when seconds are what count.
“It is a huge increase in capability and speed and safety,” said Battalion Chief Kazuo Todd.
Altogether, the two sets — one for the Waimea Fire Station and one for the Waikoloa Fire Station — cost close to $64,000. That’s eight times the annual new equipment budget.
“Everything costs more than we have, and the budgets keep getting smaller and smaller, so it’s harder and harder,” Todd said. “Which is why the Sayre Foundation is such a key element in our ability to provide the best possible service to the public that we can.”
The donation was made possible through a $100,000 donation to the Sayre Foundation from a local family foundation, which requested anonymity.
That leaves additional money left over from the donation that can go to other department needs.
During Friday’s presentation, Sayre and Mallery-Sayre acknowledged the crucial role donors have in furthering the Sayre Foundation’s mission and supporting the fire department.
“These people live among us,” Sayre said. “And they care.”
But the Sayre Foundation isn’t stopping to rest. Given the recent eruption and fires, Mallery-Sayre said the community’s support of rescue crews is needed now more than ever.
“We need help from the community more than we have ever needed help from the community to provide additional revenue for the equipment and the training that they need that they have no funds for,” she said. “And if we’ve ever made a plea, this would be the year we’re going to make the biggest plea.”
On Saturday, Sept. 1, the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation will continue its mission to help rescue crews help the community at the 21st annual awards dinner and fundraiser to be held at the Fairmont Orchid in Waikoloa.
At next month’s event, the foundation will recognize fire department personnel who contributed to four separate incidents around the island.
One such recognition will go toward those who risked their lives in the search for and recovery of Kelly Mrowinski, a traveling nurse who was swept away by a flash flood in the Wailuku River in January.
Mrowinski’s body was recovered weeks later, with rescue crews working amid heavy rains and precarious river conditions.
While unable to save the woman’s life, the citation for the award states, crews “took great risk to their personal safety to accomplish this mission,” give her family closure “and rescue them from a lifetime of unanswered questions and continued grief.”
That commendation recognizes more than two dozen members of the rescue teams involved, including battalion chiefs, captains, equipment operators, rescue specialists and firefighters, with an additional acknowledgement to three helicopter pilots.
Sharing that story again on Friday, Mallery-Sayre noted the comfort and support Mrowinski’s family received from the community and rescue personnel.
It made such an impression, Mallery-Sayre added, that the family has raised more than $7,000 for the fire department.
“In all of that tragedy, you captured the mom and dad’s heart, because of what you did,” she said.
“And I know it’s hard when you guys go out and do this stuff every day. It has to be hard on you personally,” she added. “But you do it with such professionalism and such compassion, and we are just so lucky to have you. We really are.”
Registration for the awards dinner is currently open and will close on Aug. 29. The event’s website though notes the event typically sells out, so guests are encouraged to book early.
Details and information on how to register are available through the organization’s website, http://www.danielsayrefoundation.org. A direct link to the registration page is available at https://bit.ly/2KWBE5U.
A single ticket to the event is $114; tickets for children under 12 are $58.
Tables of 10 are also available for $1,140 and a VIP table of 10 with wine service can be booked for $1,343.