The Hawaii Fire Department is set to receive a new helicopter to support operations thanks to a generous donation made to the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation.
The air ambulance, expected to arrive sometime in the spring, will replace the 30-year-old Chopper 2 based out of the South Kohala Fire Station. Hawaii County’s other helicopter, Chopper 1, which is not outfitted for medical transport, is housed at the Waiakea Fire Station in East Hawaii.
Chief Kazuo Todd said the new Airbus H125 helicopter would be highly customized from the standard passenger helicopter layout. Like Chopper 2, it will be able to accommodate medical patients, as well as performs search, rescue, and fire suppression operations. The $5 million helicopter’s primary purpose, however, will be conducting medical transports.
“Our current helicopter is getting very old and was in need of replacement. The two Hawaii Fire Department helicopters serve to meet the public’s needs in a variety of ways from searching for lost hikers, to rescuing swimmers who have been swept out to sea, to combating the many wildland fires that threaten our communities,” said Todd. “This helicopter in particular serves in addition to the normal roles, the specific role of medical transport. The ability to pick up a injured person from anywhere on the island and treat them as we expedite them to the hospital is critical in saving lives.”’
Once the new aircraft is in service, Chopper 2 will be sold at auction, Todd said. Chopper 2, a Bell 206L-3, was donated to the fire department in 1992 by Nansay Hawaii and has taken part in thousands of operations from fighting fires and searching for missing divers and hikers to transporting car crash victims and even police officers shot while searching for the killer of a fellow officer in 2018.
“There is a variety of upcoming required maintenance which was initially expected to run over a million dollars to keep Chopper 2 running and provide a substitute during the maintenance period where we would have to ship it off island,” Todd said. “The expense of keeping Chopper 2 actually exceeds the current value of the helicopter. Hawaii County lacks the funding to keep up with maintenance costs on three helicopters. While a needed purchase, the increased value of the new H125 will dramatically increase our annual insurance and operating costs.”
But having a helicopter that expands the department’s capabilities to respond to emergencies quickly and efficiently is critical.
An example of how critical helicopters can be in rescue operations occurred in June when a tour helicopter crashed in Ka‘u with six on board. Without the two county helicopters, Todd said fire rescue personnel would have had to spend over an hour hiking into the crash site and another hour hiking out with victims who would then have to be loaded into an ambulance and driven to either Kona Community Hospital or Hilo Medical Center. Those hospitals were 51 and 82 miles, respectively, from the staging site set up by the department during the operation.
“With our helicopters, the patients in critical need were transported to the hospital immediately saving multiple hours of delay, and possibly even making a difference in the outcome of that call,” he said. “We are extremely grateful to the Sayre Foundation and the many donors who’s support made the purchase of this helicopter a reality.”
The Hawaii County Council in December 2021 approved the fire department awarding a grant of $250,000 to the foundation to fill the a gap remaining after the $4.75 million donation to lease the new helicopter for 10 years. The $5 million price tag includes maintenance.
“Chopper 2 has been in service for over 30 years — the electronics as well as the rotor are wearing out and it’s down for repairs a lot,” said Frank Sayre, who along with wife, Laura Mallery-Sayre founded the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation in 1997. “It’s not as safe as we would like it to be for those we’re asking to go out and do dangerous missions and I think the county owes them and we all owe them our gratitude and our support for everything that we can do to keep their lives safe.”
He added during the Dec. 8, 2021, meeting that the county might also have the ability to construct a hangar for the new helicopter.
“With the acquisition of this new helicopter, the old helicopter could be sold and it’s my understanding from the pilots that enough money can be generated from the sale to provide a hangar to keep it out of the weather — the salt air, the rain and the sun,” Sayre said.
Hawaii County replaced East Hawaii’s 1983-model search and rescue helicopter in 2010 with a McDonnell-Douglas 500D helicopter at a cost of $2 million, which was offset some by trading in the older helicopter.
The Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation was established after a tragic accident brought to life the equipment needs not covered by the county budget for our fire department. In August 1997, Frank Sayre and Laura Mallery-Sayre’s 25-year-old son Danny Sayre hiked to the back of Pololu Valley, near Kapaloa Falls, to visit the place he called his “cathedral.” During the hike, he apparently slipped and fell 500 feet to the valley floor.
The parents could only watch helplessly as multiple attempts to recover their son’s body failed. After 10 hours working in the densely forested location with tree limbs being shredded by the helicopter’s rotors, two firefighters courageously plummeted into the canyon to retrieve Danny’s body, steps from the falls.
Neither Frank Sayre nor Laura Mallery-Sayre were available for comment as of press-time after having put on the sold-out 25th annual Daniel R. Sayre Memorial fundraiser, dinner and awards gala on Sept. 3. The couple announced the milestone donation during the nonprofit’s event at the Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii.