HCF, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez donate $2.128M to purchase fire trucks for the Maui County Fire Department

The Hawai‘i Community Foundation announced the award of $2.128 million to the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation, to be used for the purchase of four new fire trucks for the Maui Fire Department. For this grant, $1 million from the Maui Strong Fund has been awarded, with an additional donation of $1.128 million made by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. 

Since 1997, the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation has supported the Hawaiʻi County Fire Department by raising funds to purchase fire equipment, emergency rescue equipment, ocean safety equipment and aeromedical equipment, as well as supplies and training for first responders and their maintenance support teams. To date, the nonprofit has raised more than $40 million for these efforts, including the purchase of 14 fire trucks and two helicopters for the Hawaiʻi County Fire Department.

“The mission of the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation is to save lives. Hawaiʻi’s first responders need to have the tools to keep them safe and to make it more feasible for them to be doing rescues instead of recoveries,” said Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation executive director Laura Mallery-Sayre. “The needs are enormous. Hawaiʻi has terrain unlike anywhere else, and we are already dealing with the effects of climate change. And so we’re looking ahead at how we can be better prepared when the next disaster arrives.”

After the August 2023 wildfires on Maui, the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation reached out to Maui County to learn how they could assist in building capacity for future fire-fighting efforts. The Maui County Fire Department identified four trucks that would be most useful to filling its needs: a 3,500-gallon tanker truck, a 4×4 1,250-gallon tanker truck, a Skeeter-brand brush truck, and a 1-ton pickup with a skid.

Maui County Fire Department Chief Bradford Ventura said, “Most standard fire trucks are not made to go off-roading, but these are nimble. The vehicles are able to leave the pavement and get closer to a wildfire that’s just starting up and prevent it from spreading and getting as large as it would otherwise. That’s a big bonus.”

“We’ve been through so much this year, but there’s been so much amazing support, from the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation and other partners, aimed toward making the community safer and more resilient for future wildfire situations,” said Ventura.

This is the second grant that Bezos and Sanchez have made to the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation; in spring of 2024, they contributed $1.7 million to fund the purchase of three trucks for the Maui County Fire Department.

HCF is taking a four-phase approach to its disaster relief efforts, to acknowledge both the immediate and long-term recovery needs for the people and places affected by disaster events, ensuring that the Maui Strong Fund will be available to support relief efforts over the full course of Maui’s recovery. This $1 million grant from the Maui Strong Fund to the Daniel R. Sayre Memorial Foundation falls into Phase One of HCF’s relief efforts: Risk Reduction and Disaster Readiness. 

“Helping Maui’s fire department to be as fully equipped as possible to meet the ever-evolving challenges it faces is a crucial part of ensuring Maui is well prepared for future natural disasters,” said HCF CEO and president, Micah Kāne. “We mahalo Jeff and Lauren for their generous contribution to strengthen the capabilities and resources of Maui’s first responders, for the long-term safety and wellbeing of our island communities.”

Mallery-Sayre says she is working with vendors to purchase the new fire trucks and estimates they will be delivered on Maui within two to three years. The fire truck vehicles are custom produced to a fire department’s exact specifications and with the rise in wildfires across the US, there is a high demand for the equipment nationwide.