The Makalei Fire Station is sporting a temporary sign honoring the memory of Daniel R. Sayre, who lost his life while hiking along Pololu Valley in 1997. The Hawaii County Council today is scheduled to sign a resolution making that
The Makalei Fire Station is sporting a temporary sign honoring the memory of Daniel R. Sayre, who lost his life while hiking along Pololu Valley in 1997. The Hawaii County Council today is scheduled to sign a resolution making that sign more permanent.
Resolution 643 renames the Makalei Fire Station the Makalei Fire Station and Daniel R. Sayre West Hawaii Training Center. It was scheduled to be approved during the council meeting today at the West Hawaii Civic Center.
Sayre’s parents, Frank Sayre and Laura Mallery-Sayre, created a memorial fund honoring the Hawaii Fire Department to show their gratitude to three firefighters who risked their lives to rescue their 25-year-old son from the 500-foot valley floor.
The Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation has so far raised more than $1 million to purchase rescue equipment and provide lifesaving training for the Fire Department.
“We’re humbled. … We’re extremely honored that they’re doing this. … When you lose a child, it’s really hard, and now his memory will live on,” Mallery-Sayre said Monday. “To have something in his memory that’s so permanent — it’s very meaningful for us.”
The 11,000-square-foot Makalei Fire Station includes a hose tower that doubles as a training facility for simulating cliff rescues, such as rappelling down the side of a building or cliff, and for building fires.
The station also has a modern classroom for future firefighters to learn the art of fire science.
“This one is really special,” Kona Councilwoman Karen Eoff, who sponsored the resolution, said Monday.
Mallery-Sayre and Eoff praised Mayor Billy Kenoi and Fire Chief Darren Rosario for moving the project forward. She said Kenoi announced the plan during the 2015 Sayre Foundation dinner, and the administration was able to construct a stone wall and create a temporary sign in time to announce it at the most recent dinner Sept. 3.
While the rescuers say they aren’t out for accolades, the community has a responsibility to recognize its heroes, Mallery-Sayre said during the Sept. 3 dinner.
“We all need to be recognized for our efforts when we’ve done our jobs well,” she said.
And that includes the Sayres, said Eoff.
“I’m truly grateful that it’s being done,” Eoff said about the renaming. “It says thank you to Frank and Laura Sayre. … Out of that tragedy, comes a lot of positives.”
Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.
